Shadow Rising
by Z3r0 InsaNiTy
Summary: Zero, a Genin from the Curtain Village in the Land of Silence, finds his way to Konoha and becomes a ninja there. With new enemies rising, Zero must befriend the ninja around him to help him defeat all the enemies that oppose him. Follow the adventures of Zero, Hinata, and Naruto in this story about the Shadow of the Hidden Leaf!
1. - SEASON ONE -

**This is just a spacing chapter for each new season. Proceed onto the first chapter of "Shippuden Zero" by clicking the "Next " button or by using the drop down menu at the top and bottom of each chapter.**

 **If you enjoy the story, make sure to leave a review/favorite/follow.**


	2. Enter: Zero!

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my latest story!**

 **My name is AM, and I was a common author back in 2015, often writing different stories for different shows/games. The television show I am currently watching is Naruto Shippuden, as this story is in that category. The main characters in this story will be my OC, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuga.**

 **This story takes place right after the meeting of all the Kage's at the Summit. This was right after the fillers that was after the Pain arc. Please notice that this story changes its role from the anime, as of right now just think that the Tsunade has woken up from her "slumber" or however you would like to call it. I don't know if she becomes Hokage again right after the Kage meeting, because I'm watching that arc right now. I was originally going to make this story one month after Naruto and Hinata got married, but I realized that that wouldn't fall into place with my story, so it was ultimately changed to what it is now.**

 **You'll often see that some of my previous stories have the same name as this protagonist's name. I kind of just find this name to be interesting.**

 **For now, the story will begin. I hope you all enjoy, and welcome to Chapter One of Shippuden Zero!**

* * *

The clouds collided with the light of the bright blue sky, covering every bit of light peaking out from the sky. Crows had overcome towards the skies in the place of regular bluebirds. Thunder erupted with the clouds reign in the skies.

It was a regular day in the Curtain Village. This village was located in the Land of Silence, a land that abided by the Land of Fire's shinobi rules. There was no sign of life on the streets, as the children had to return to their houses because of the storm. Only mice scrambled through the small benchs or pipes, trying to find even the smallest bit of food.

A large scream erupted from a nearby house towards the east side of the village, in the Itisuki clan's household. The voice sounded as if it came from the mother of the family.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" The father of the family yelled at the small boy in front of him. The small boy had a three scratch marks on the left side of his face, having one crossing over his eye. The boy had blue and green eyes and wearing Academy goggles. The mother stood next to the angry father with a crying girl engulfed in the embrace of the mother's arms.

"I can't believe a son of ours has done this..." The mother said, staring at the ground with the sobbing girl. The girl started to cry, as parts of her body were scattered with scratches and blood.

"You are an embarrassment to our clan. You will stay in the basement prison for the remainder of the year, only coming out for your Genin training. You will receive your food and liquids when we decide to give you them. GOT IT?" The father roared. The boy nodded his head slowly. The father grabbed the boy and hurled him away, heading towards a wooden door on the opposite side of the room. The boy got one last glance at his sister who was being embraced by their mother. His sisters tears had stopped, and her mouth turned into a dark, devious smile. The door creaked open as the two had reached it. The father threw his son down the stairs, bumping the boy's back and getting hit in the head a few times on the way down. With one disgusted expression, the father said one more thing before slamming the door shut.

"You will never be a ninja, Zerota."

* * *

Zero's eyes opened wide when he heard that dialogue. The nightmare had chased his feelings into hibernation as he quickly looked around. Everything was as it was before he fell asleep for the night. The fire was still going, and his backpack was still in the same spot as it was before. He was still lying amongst a tree. The only sounds that Zero heard were the owls hooting in the wilderness. He was still in the forest, as in his selection of resting. Zero breathed the air out of his lungs with relief. "It was just a dream." He said.

Suddenly, the faintest noise of a foot crushing a branch somewhere in front of him. The normal human ear would not have transmitted this sound to the brain, however with Zero's enhanced senses, the sound came to him. Zero raised his index finger and his middle finger and put them together to form a hand sign. He quickly focused all of his chakra to his eyes and his ears. With one blink of both of his eyes, the entire forest lit up with a light blue aura. Now, Zero could see almost everything around him.

What Zero saw around him were the bodies of human beings - ninja. The shinobi were not moving, as they were waiting if Zero could even see them at all with the forest being pitch black, other than the campfire. Zero concentrated the chakra in his ear to the chakra in his eyes, and could now sense the gender identities of each of these shinobi. There were three males and one female. Zero's eyes focused on the headband they were wearing, and it appeared to be of one of the greatest lands ninja headband, the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf village. Zero had now replaced his ear with the chakra it had before. With the faintest noise heard by the normal human ear, Zero could hear a noise coming from the female within the group. " _Byakugan!_ " The female whispered. Zero quickly analyzed what jutsu this was. The Byakugan was a jutsu that could only be performed by members of the Hyuga clan in Konoha. It gave the user a compete visual of the opponent's chakra system and long-range sight. It seems as though they were spying on Zero, waiting for him to move. This occurred for the next minute.

Zero's vision of the shinobi was starting to fade, as darkness was slowly taking over the blue aura. This was also starting to create pain in both of Zero's eyes. He quickly blinked, which released the aura, returning his vision to its normal state. Zero cleared his throat and looked at the fire before speaking. "You can come out now."

The Shinobi made no move, only slowly whispering to each other, which of course, Zero could hear.

"Kakashi sensei, what do we do? How could he even hear us?" One voice questioned.

"He couldn't of used the Byakugan. There's no other explanation of why he did hear us." Another voice replied.

"Hinata, I thought the Byakugan could only let you see things way clearer?" The first voice questioned again.

"I'm not sure, Naruto." The female voice responded.

Zero grinned at the conversation. "I can hear you as well."

This made the voices speechless. They said nothing, but Zero could not see what they were doing in that silence. Zero reacted quickly. He put up the same hand sign as before, and focused his chakra towards his eyes and ears again. However, when he opened his eyes, the only thing he saw was a needle flying towards him. The needle impacted his chest, and started to inject some sort of liquid into Zero's body. He quickly looked down to make sure it wasn't poison. Luckily enough, the liquid had a red color to it, so it wasn't poisonous. If it was poisonous, it wouldn't have been purple. That was all Zero saw before his eyes closed shut and he lost consciousness. A large part of him felt like it was being opened.

* * *

 _"Little brother, it looks like you deserve another punishment. With that vision of yours, you can probably see under girl's clothing, you pervert." The voice laughed. This voice was the voice of his sister, but all Zero saw was complete darkness. "Well team, let's give him his punishment." The voices did not speak again after that sentence, and the last thing Zero felt was a fist colliding with his face._

Zero's eyes opened just a little bit to see what was around him. The nightmare that just occurred was a flashback of his childhood. Zero focused on what was around him with the little vision that he had. There was a girl standing over him with both her hands on the right side of his waist. There was also another pair of hands on his left side, and Zero could feel the aura surrounding his chest. All of the visuals that Zero could depict from this girl was that she had blonde hair that was covering her right eye and that she had blue eyes. When she noticed that Zero was awake, she stopped her jutsu.

"Ino! Focus on the healing process!" Another voice yelled. This made the girl, who's name was Ino, look up at another figure. "We must make sure to seal this scar before any more blood from this young man is lost."

Ino nodded. "Yes Lady Tsunade." However, before Ino put her hands back on Zero's chest, the realization of the pain came to him. The pain felt excruciating, and felt as if Zero was slowly being split in half. Zero gasped his eyes shot open, pushing himself upwards and getting a quick glimpse of the entire room while he was in this pain. About fifteen people were in the room with him. He started to thrash his hands everywhere, as if it were a beast that was in battle forme.

"Hey! Keep him down!" Lady Tsunade yelled.

Zero was suddenly slammed down towards the bed by multiple hands around him. Ino quickly casted her medical jutsu back onto the Zero. This calmed him down, luckily. Zero rested himself back into the bed with ease. The medical ninja's jutsu was healing him faster than it was before. Ino and Lady Tsunade continued the healing process, which lead to the sealing of the scar on his chest.

About ten minutes later, Zero's scar was completely seal. His body felt normal, as his eyes were still closed. The removal of the medical jutsu woke up Zero, as his eyes slowly ascended from slumber. He was able to slowly push himself upwards, and was able to look at the entire room and the people it contained. Most of the people in there were normal ninja, however there were a few medical ninja placed in the room as well.

"It looks like he's going to be alright." Lady Tsunade concluded to the group. This made the entire room cheer in joy that Zero was alive. "Now, who are you, young man?"

Zero put his hand on his head. "My name is Zero."

Tsunade studied Zero for a second. "Hmm...what is this chakra...its extraordinary!" She exclaimed. "Kakashi, where did you find this young man?"

A man covered in a dark blue mask spoke up. "Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and myself were doing patrol, and we found him lying in the middle of the woods. He- Zero, detected us so easily with some unknown jutsu. I didn't know if he was an enemy or not, so I had Hinata strike him with a chakra depletion needle, a ninja tool that the scientists have been creating."

"Well, it looks like that ninja tool worked well. Zero's chakra in his brain was almost non-existent.

Hinata spoke up. "Lady Tsunade..." Tsunade looked over at the girl. "He doesn't have the Byakugan...his eyes aren't the same as my clan."

"Hmmm..." Tsunade analyzed the information. "What is this jutsu you have, Zero?" She finally asked.

Zero grinned. "This is my Z-Vision."

* * *

 **That's Chapter One of Shippuden Zero! More of the story will be introduced in the next chapter, and I will try to get the next chapter in by the end of the week, maybe even sooner. Please comment if you say any grammatical errors or if you would like to suggest something to be changed. I cannot guarantee your suggestion to be accepted, but I will definitely look at them. For now, this is AM, signing off.**


	3. Hinata And The Past Of Zero

**Welcome back to Chapter Two of "Shippuden Zero!" I really do hope this story goes well, as in my head it seems like a spectacular novel to read. But that decision is only up to you guys.**

 **Well, I guess we should get started on the story. Enjoy Chapter Two of "Shippuden Zero!"**

* * *

The reply Zero made in the medical tent left the rest of the people in there with question, not shock. For Zero had just revealed his the only jutsu he had learned to people he didn't even know. However, he felt that these are people he should trust because of the healing they had done to him. "It's the only jutsu I know." Zero backed up his remark.

Naruto was the first one to speak up. "Z-vision...what is that? Grandma Tsunade, what jutsu is that?"

Tsunade was pondering that question as well. No jutsu like this was ever discovered in the world, much less the ninja world. "Let the young man explain, Naruto." Tsunade turned to Zero. "The Hidden Leaf has never heard of a jutsu like this, what is it?"

"Well, I'm not good at describing things, but..." Zero got up from the bed and headed towards the door, but stopped right at the exit. The door was wide open, and Zero got a view of the the small area around the forest. There were villagers rebuilding structures all around them. "My jutsu isn't actually called Z-vision. It's just the alias I gave it when I discovered it. It reminds me too much of my past." Zero's hand turned into a fist as he clenched it. "Those people...they destroyed my childhood...they gave me no reason to..." The air around Zero started to turn into blue chakra. "I..."

The whole room did not know what was happening. Kakashi was the first to take action. "Zero. What is happening to you?" He asked.

Zero realized what was happening around him and took in a deep breath. "S-Sorry...I didn't realize what was happening at first. My Z-vision is a jutsu similar to the Byakugan, the visual ability that Kaguya Otsutsuki possessed." Zero turned around and faced Hinata. " _The Byakugan, she has it doesn't she?"_

Hinata was too busy staring into Zero's eyes. The young man's eyes were split in the middle, half being golden and the other being red. There was something in his eye that told Hinata something. It was as if these eyes transmitted thoughts into Hinata's eyes. Dark thoughts. No, these thoughts weren't dark, they were just relaying dark things that happened to Zero. Quickly, Hinata shook her head to remove herself from the gaze of Zero. She could tell he wasn't doing this on purpose, but something else was causing him to do this.

Zero could sense what Hinata just saw. He believed it would be good to ignore it. "Well, my visual jutsu is similar to the Byakugan, as I can see faraway things and sense chakra flow. However, I can also hear movements from very far away as well. My sight and hearing senses are multiplied by five when I perform it.

"Well, it just so happens that we have someone with the Byakugan in the room." Tsunade went behind Hinata and lightly grabbed her shoulders as if she was presenting Hinata.

Zero's eyes flashed for a moment, turning blood red for about a half a second. Zero looked at the ground. A sudden flashback was erupting in Zero's mind. Although his body wasn't falling to the ground or anything, Zero's vision was slowly changing into the flashback.

 _Zero was currently being pulled away from the room that his sister and his mother were both crying in. He suddenly heard his father whispering something under his breath._

 _"You are just...like that Hinata girl..." His dad whispered with anger. "You will never be a shinobi, the same fate as her and that Nine-Tails brat."_

Zero came back to reality at that moment. Kakashi and Naruto had managed to keep him up. The two words rung through Zero's mind, forcing him to speak it out loud. "Hinata...and the Nine-Tails..." Naruto's eyes widened by this comment.

"How do you know about the Nine-Tails?" Naruto asked.

Zero did not answer. Only his eyes were speaking for him. Not only Hinata, but everyone could see the look in his eyes now. It looked as if crimson red meteors were falling down from the top right of his eye to the bottom left. "I..." Zero managed to say.

"Zero, if you need to take a walk or something, by all means do so." Tsunade suggested. This made Zero look up as his vision of the meteors faded. He nodded slowly. "Just make sure you come back here."

Zero turned around and walked out of the doorway. The afternoon sun beamed down on him as he looked around. The villagers were still building, some chatting with other friends, and a few training on wooden dummies. Zero looked towards his right, as he saw a small clearing in the woods that seemed easy to stroll through. He started to walk in that direction.

Tsunade had decided something when Zero left the room. "Naruto. Hinata. I want you to follow him, make sure that he is safe. With the condition he is in right now, it seems that something bad could happen if he was attacked."

Naruto and Hinata nodded in sync. "Yes ma'am!" The two ran out of the room, looking around to find Zero. They eventually found him at the entrance of the path leading into the forest to the right of them.

"Hinata, keep your Byakugan on." Naruto said to her. This made her nod.

Hinata looked at the ground. "N-Naruto, we probably should find out about Zero, what his story is." Her shy voice suggested, remembering the gaze from inside the medical tent. The two started to run up the nearest tree to get a bird's eye view of Zero. Once they spotted him again, Naruto followed him, with Hinata right beside him.

"That's exactly what I plan to do."

* * *

The forest was quiet, but Zero's mind wasn't.

Zero looked down while he was walking, thinking about his past. It was completely evil for what the people of his childhood did to him. He couldn't bear to think about it, he gets shivers from it and his eyes start to see flashbacks. Zero stopped in the middle of his tracks. "If only...it wasn't so dark..." Zero said to himself. "If I was ever to face them again, I...I..."

Before Zero could finish his loud thought, he felt a hand on his shoulder, a comforting hand, followed by another one. Zero turned around quickly, only to be met by a kunai pointed straight at his face. Zero was being ambushed.

There were two shinobi that were attacking him were dressed with completely black robes, chakra surrounded the kunai pointed at Zero's face. One of the shinobi spoke. "Come with us, Zerota." He said. The figure quickly pushed the kunai into Zero's shoulder. Zero could not react, as he was too weakened by the flashbacks that occurred in the medical tent. He had no idea of what to do, it felt as if he didn't have any chakra at all. Either it was the kunai that was draining his chakra, or it was the flashback that was draining it.

" **RASENGAN!** " A voice erupted from a tree above them. Suddenly, Naruto came flyimg from above, with a warrior smile. He was holding a small orb that seemed as if it was rotating chakra in Naruto's palm. The orb smacked the first dark figure with the kunai in his hand first, pushing him towards the ground. The second dark figure tried to react, however a hand turned him around from behind.

" **Byakugan!** " The face that was fighting the second shinobi was Hinata. The veins around Hinata's brain strengthened, as she activated her Byakugan. Hinata quickly tapped a part of the shinobi's body, and the shinobi cried out and fell with ease. The two figures attacking Zero were defeated by Naruto and Hinata.

"Hinata? Naruto? You came to help?" Zero asked.

Hinata looked at Zero. "Yes, Zero. It was Lady Tsunade's orders."

Naruto laughed. "Grandma Tsunade sure knew what to do!" His smile faded when he looked back at Zero. He had a sad expression on his face. "Hey, Zero, do you want to tell us what's up? Why you're acting sad?"

Hinata remembered what happened back at the tent. "Your eyes...Zero...I saw something..." She explained. "It hurt my eyes when I looked into your eyes..."

"It was telling you something," Zero replied. "It was telling you...my story so far." Naruto and Hinata were dazed with confusion.

"How is that possible? Your telling me you can tell us things with just your eyes?!" Naruto questioned. Zero nodded in approval. "How exactly?"

"I can't really tell you. I don't remember anything about when I got it or how it works."

An idea lit up in Hinata's mind. "Zero, what if I used my Byakugan and looked into your eyes?"

"Huh...Hinata are you sure that's a good idea...?" Naruto asked.

"It's worth a try. The Byakugan can sense chakra points, right? When my eyes change to that color that you saw Hinata, there's chakra in my eyes forming letters. You can use your Byakugan to tell what it is, right?" Zero suggested.

"I think so. But how do you change your eyes into what it was before?"

"I can think about...those times..." Zero's mind was finding its way towards his remembrance of his past. His blue spiked hair started to cover his eyes. "I..." Zero's fists were tightening.

"Don't remember it too much, Zero. Just a little bit." Hinata said.

Zero looked back up at Hinata. His eyes were the same as they were in that tent. Half was golden, half was red. It seemed as if his rage was building up, but Zero was clearly stronger than it, resisting the pain as he started to sweat. This was Hinata's chance. "Byakugan!" She said. Hinata's could now see all of Zero's chakra points and the chakra flowing throughout his body. His body was filled with chakra. _"He has almost if not the same amount of chakra that Naruto does!"_ Hinata thought. However, she remembered the true mission. She came close to Zero and stared into his eyes, increasing her sight as every second passed. Hinata gasped at what she saw. So much information was being filled into her mind, as the Hyuga girl went into a flashback.

 _Hinata appeared in some sort of room. The room was filled with two buckets, one containing food and another with water, a small bed, and a barricaded window. A small boy was sitting in the top right corner of room. Hinata walked up to the boy and tried to put her hand on his shoulder to see what he was doing. However, when trying this, her hand went right through the boy's body, and the boy did not react at all. "Right, this must be a dream..." Hinata said. The same thing happened with her voice, the boy did not hear it. Hinata listened closely, and could tell that the boy was sobbing, but very quiet._

 _"I thought this world would at least like me..." The boy said. "I thought I would be placed into a good family. That's the opposite of what happened." These words coming from the boy were impacting Hinata's thought. "I always wanted to be the strongest ninja in the world...but that will never happen...I am too weak. My team makes fun of me..." The boy's crying got a bit louder. "I will never get friends..." The boy turned around, but he still couldn't hear or see Hinata. Tears were dripping down his bloodshot eyes. Hinata figured out who this boy was._

 _"Zero..." Hinata said sadly. She wanted to do something about it, but Hinata didn't even that much about Zero. However, this made her already feel sad for Zero. "I know I don't know you Zero, but I will keep this a secret. Just between you and me. I don't want to remind you of this. I don't want this memory to hurt you." Hinata swore with her eyes closed._

 _The flashback was starting to fade without Hinata even noticing, since she had her eyes closed. The entire memory was erased by darkness and brought Hinata back to the real world._

Hinata was now staring at Zero's eyes, but they eyes had returned their normal appearance. When she saw Zero, he reminded her of the one she truly loved, Naruto. Even though she doesn't know him that much, she already was caring about him. His past was just too sad for Hinata not to care about him.

Naruto walked up to the both of them. "Hinata, what did you see?" He asked.

 _"I won't tell anyone for a bit, Zero."_ Hinata thought. Her only option was to lie to Naruto right now, even though she loved Naruto. This was a secret between Zero and herself.

Hinata went with the lie. "Nothing. I didn't see anything."

* * *

 **Well, that chapter took a while for some reason. I decided to make Hinata the first one to know Zero's story. It gets even better in the following chapters. Anyway guys, I hope you liked it! Review, favorite or follow this story if you did! This is AM, signing off.**


	4. The New Ninja

**Welcome to another chapter of "The Hidden Heroes - A New Leaf Ninja"! I hope you all enjoy, last chapter was exciting, and this one will be even more exciting! Instead of planning ahead this chapter, I'm going to think of what is going to happen while I'm typing. I've got a few ideas though. Also, literally the exact episode I am on right now is when Tsunade woke up from her coma or whatever it was, talk about strange timing.**

* * *

Zero leaned against the nearest tree. "Strange, that idea should've worked."

Naruto shook his head. "You're sure you didn't see anything with your Byakugan, Hinata?"

Hinata could feel the negative impulse in her brain, the molecules scattering in deciding what she was going to say. Hinata was not a liar, this is the only one she was going to lie about only because of she didn't want the others to feel bad for Zero so that all their sadness didn't remind Zero of his past. It was best to keep it safe and secure. "N-no N-Naruto. I didn't see a thing."

"Well, either way, Zero we should probably go back to Grandma Tsunade." Naruto explained. "She probably has some big ideas for what you should do!" Naruto turned around and started to head back in the direction of the Leaf Village.

"I guess so." Zero replied. Suddenly, a large beat in the middle of Zero's body exploded. It was as if a large heart were in the center of his chest, but it wasn't actually is heart. It felt like a beast. "Agh!" Zero cried out in pain, falling towards the ground. His eyes were not changing color, but the pain in his body was tremendous.

"Zero!" Hinata yelled, making Naruto turn back around. The two rushed to his aid, picking him up by his arms. When Naruto and Hinata touched Zero's arms, it seemed as though the pain went away because of the two touching him. Zero was already feeling better within four seconds. The pain seemed almost non-existent after that, and he was able to stand up, but there was still a bit of pain that made him feel unable to walk.

"Are you alright Zero?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine. I don't know what that was though..."

"We should take you back to the village. We'll help you out on the way there to make sure you make it back without the reoccurring pain stuff." Hinata nodded at Naruto's suggestion.

Naruto and Hinata kept holding up Zero by having one arm go around Naruto, and another around Hinata, letting his legs drag themselves on the ground. The two were able to walk down the path back towards the Leaf Village. " _I hope Zero is okay..._ " Hinata thought. " _Maybe I could learn more about Zero's story later..._ "

* * *

The tent was still filled with the people from Zero's recovery, of course not including Zero, Naruto, and Hinata. Tsunade was pacing back in forth next to the bed, thinking. " _A young man just is found by Kakashi and his team, and has some hidden jutsu? Maybe it could be a kekkei genkai. But no, Kakashi said he had to put up hand signs and that it didn't activate right away. Both the Kakashi's Sharingan and Hinata's Byakugan activate the moment they are used. Also, if this jutsu was a kekkei genkai, wouldn't the Leaf Village already know about it? A family with this trait would be known by the Five Great Nations._ " Tsunade's long thoughts clouded her from the outside world, not noticing that Kakashi was calling her name.

"Lady Tsunade?" Kakashi said again. "What are you thinking?"

Tsunade looked up towards the copy ninja. "That boy, his jutsu is remarkable from what you say."

"Maybe it's a kekkei genkai?" Kiba suggested.

"No, Kiba. If it was a kekkei genkai, the Leaf Village would've been sure to know about it by now. Nothing is coming up, however." Tsunade looked at the ground for a moment, thinking of her next move. "He explained to us that that was his only jutsu. We should probably take the opportunity to take him in the Village's care and train him, to find more about that jutsu and to see what this young man can do."

Kakashi nodded. "I am willing to train him, but I'll need some help."

"What are the fighting styles he'll be learning Lady Tsunade?"

"Hmmm...possibly ninjutsu and taijutsu. I don't recommend genjutsu as Zero has the Z-vision, which is similar to the Byakugan, and he seemed more as a close combat fighter, like Hinata, Naruto. You're in charge of deciding who trains him, Kakashi."

Kakashi thought for a quick moment. "I'll have Hinata, Naruto, and Lee will train Zero in taijutsu. Captain Yamato and I will train him in ninjutsu, and the other three could watch to learn what he can do in ninjutsu."

"Very well, Kakashi. When Zero returns, I'll commence him as a Leaf Ninja, and he'll start from the rank he was in his previous village." Tsunami explained. At this exact moment, Naruto and Hinata walked through the doorway, carrying Zero in between them. "Just as I was saying...Zero, you're back. What happened to him?"

"We can't say for sure, Grandma Tsunade. A few rogue shinobi attacked Zero while we were following him. We managed to defeat them, but apparently Zero's pain was getting even worse." Naruto explained, forgetting about the Byakugan staring into Zero's raging eyes.

"Well, we've decided something while you were gone. Naruto, Hinata, you will train Zero in taijutsu, along with Lee." Hinata's eyes lit up. " _I can learn more about Zero now..._ " She thought. She looked over at Naruto, who had a smile on his face. " _Naruto must be thinking the same thing..._ "

Naruto grinned. "Looks like I'll be your Sensei now, huh Zero!" He exclaimed. "Looks like Hinata and I can get to know you better!"

"Now Zero, I need you to explain a few things to me," Tsunade said. "First, what was the last village you were in?"

"The Village Hidden in the Darkness." Zero replied.

"Hmm...and your last Ninja rank?"

"I was a Genin if I remember."

Tsunade looked in the eyes of Zero for a second. "Would you like to transfer all your ninja information from that village and become a Genin of the Hidden Leaf Village?"

Zero did not answer for a moment. It was completely strange how Lady Tsunade was already giving him the opportunity to become a ninja of the Hidden Leaf. " _Maybe it's because of my Z-vision?_ " Zero thought. Everyone in the room was awaiting his decision. "Well, I have no where else to go, so I might as well." He finally replied.

"Very well then. I would like you to start your basic ninja training right away. Kakashi, I want Zero's training today to consist of both taijutsu and ninjutsu, and we'll see if we need to split it individually in days. I will send a two messenger birds to Yamato and Lee's current location and tell them about this. They should arrive with you shortly at your training grounds. Speaking of that, I want you to train him in somewhere in a clearing in the village." Tsunade concluded. "Also, try to introduce him to the others so he gets a fair welcome, okay you two?"

Naruto and Hinata both nodded at the Hokage. "Let's get to it Zero!" Naruto said as he walked out the door. Kakashi and Hinata left shortly after he ran out the door, and Zero followed behind them.

"You might want to go with them, Kiba." Tsunade suggested. When she didn't get a response from Kiba, the Hokage turned around to notice he was daydreaming. " **KIBA!** " Tsunade boomed.

Kinda snapped back to reality and got quite scared when the Hokage yelled at him. "Uh, yes ma'am!" Kiba quickly ran out the door, towards the four people that had recently left.

Tsunade remembered Zero's face. Ino noticed this and questioned her. "You're thinking of Zero, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am." Tsunade replied. "For some reason, when I looked at his eyes, I saw something strange. Even though they have different colored eyes, Zero has had some sort connection with Naruto and Hinata..."

* * *

It was an average day in the Leaf Village. The enermous crater in the ground had not stopped by the influence of the villagers. From what Zero saw, there were houses already at the bottom of the crater.

"Well, this is it." Kakashi said. "That tent we were in, was just an emergency medical tent in the forest if someone did not have enough time to make it to the hospital in the village." He explained. "Speaking of the village, we were recently attacked by Pain, the leader of the Akatski. The Akatski are a group of rogue ninja that have tried to destroy the Leaf Village. They're currently hunting Jinchūriki, which are the host bodies of each of the Legendary Tailed-Beasts. Naruto here happens to be a Jinchūriki, the host of the Nine-Tailed Fox. We should be glad to have him, as he defeated Pain and the Leaf villagers were saved. Unfortunately, as you can see, the village itself didn't make it."

"That's nice. Looks like Naruto is really important, isn't he?" Zero asked.

"You better know it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hmph." Kiba groaned. "He's also an idiot."

Naruto's expression grew angry. "No, you're the idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot!"

" **BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASSES TO THE MOON!** " A voice boomed from behind them. Everyone in the group looked that exact way.

Naruto and Kiba both grew anxious. "Oh no...Sakura..." Naruto said.

A pink-haired girl came stomping towards the group. She said no words, only going straight for Naruto and Kiba. She raised both of her fists as if she was charging the chakra in her fists. Once she was in arms length of the two, she punched both of them in the face, sending them flying towards the village.. Sakura was completely angry from what Zero saw. He was actually very scared of whoever this Sakura girl was. " _What the hell...this girl is really strong_ " Zero thought.

Two people came up from the same way Sakura came. One was a male, and another a female. The female had brown eyes and her hair was short with two buns on the top. The male had long hair with a fierce personality. Both of them wore white clothing. "Sakura, maybe you shouldn't get so mad just when they have a little argument." The female said. Sakura didn't reply, as she noticed a new figure among the group, Zero.

"Kakashi, who is he?" Sakura asked, looking at Zero.

"This is Zero. He's a Genin that just joined the Leaf Village." Kakashi explained.

"Oh, okay. It's nice to meet you, Zero!" Sakura said with a smile. "My name is Sakura."

The other female came up to Zero. "I'm Tenten. It's good to meet you!" Tenten said.

The male came up. "I am Neji." He said.

Zero noticed something about Neji, specifically his eyes. He looked back at Hinata, and then back to Neji. "You have the same eyes as Hinata. Do you have the Byakugan as well?" Zero asked.

"Yes. Lady Hinata and I are part of the Hyuga clan. She is the heiress to our clan."

"Hmm...okay." Zero said. "Kakashi, lets continue towards the training." Kakashi nodded.

"You three are welcome to come if you would like to watch." Kakashi said.

Kakashi, Hinata, and Zero continued to walk towards the village. Sakura followed them, then Tenten. Neji decided to follow after they were at least twenty yards away. The group were headed to the right of the village, towards a flat, open space. Naruto and Kiba eventually caught up to both of them after a few minutes of them walking.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, the group made it to the clearing. "Okay, Zero. Your training begins here, in this open space. What would you like to learn first? Ninjutsu or Taijutsu?" Kakashi asked.

Zero thought about it for a moment before coming up with a decision. "I'll do Taijutsu first."

"Alright." Kakashi confirmed. "It seems as though Lee is late to the training. That doesn't mean you can't start, though. Everybody except Naruto and Hinata, go a short distance away from the area. Naruto! Hinata! He's all yours." Kakashi explained and started to walk away. Everybody followed him, except for Zero, Hinata, and Naruto.

"Alright Z-Zero, are you ready?" Hinata asked. Zero nodded in approval.

Naruto grinned. "Alright, let's begin your taijutsu training!"

* * *

 **That's Chapter 3 of "The Hidden Heroes - A New Leaf Ninja"! Please review the story and let me know how you think of it, and possibly suggest some changes. Follow or favorite it if you want also! I'll probably start the next chapter tomorrow. For now, this is AM, signing off.**


	5. A Moment of Memory

**Welcome back to another chapter of "Naruto Shippuden: The Hidden Heroes - A New a Leaf Ninja"! I changed the title a bit, it's kind of long now. But regardless, we should be fine, I've seen way more stories with longer titles than this. Now, before we start, let's answer the first review of the story. If you don't know what I'm answering, just check out the reviews page on this story.**

 **Thor94 : Yep, looks like Zero's a Leaf Ninja now. Naruto is a bit ignorant only because he's still 16, though. Still isn't mature, but getting there. I don't have much of a knowledge of his kekkei genkai (blood-line traits) or anything, I'm only on episode 236 of Shippuden. I'll try to make his character development in this story a little better, but I can't guarantee that he won't stay ignorant.**

 **Well, let's get on with Chapter 4 of this story! I planned to make this extra exciting, so make sure you read all of it! Enjoy!**

* * *

" **LEAF HURRICANE!** " A voice yelled from somewhere around the training area. Landing from above, a Leaf chunin dropped to the left of Naruto onto the ground, gracefully. The chunin looked up after looking at the ground. He had huge eyes and a bowl cut with normal chunin clothing, and Zero noticed out of all of what he had on was his huge eyebrows. "Hello!" The chunin exclaimed.

"Bushy-Brow, you're late again." Naruto said.

"I am sorry. I was far away from the village after I finished my mission, and I did not know that a bird was on my head for five minutes." The chunin explained. "I see that a new Leaf ninja has joined us. You must be Zero! My name is Rock Lee, the Hidden Leaf's Pride!"

"It's nice to meet you as well." Zero replied with no exact expression.

"Well, let's get on with your training then!" Naruto explained. "Bushy-Brow, could you get us a large rock?"

"Of course!" Lee explained. Naruto and Hinata backed up, letting Lee do his job. Zero didn't know what was going on as it didn't seem dangerous, so he stood right where he was. The work-out fanatic punched the ground, created a large crack in the ground until a large circle formed. Lee then kicked the top of the stone until part of it budged a little. These kicks were slowly but surely getting a piece of the rock out. Several more kicks landed on the rock until it broke free entirely from the ground. Unfortunately, large, pointy stones came along with it, at least a hundred. Those stones flew up in the air and came down after a bit. Zero was completely focused on this, as he was just staring off into the village. Hinata, noticed this, and before they could land, she quickly performed a jutsu to protect Zero from the stones. This made Zero turn around.

" **Protecting Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!** " Hinata yelled. Suddenly, a large barrier with small holes surrounded Zero and Hinata. From what Zero saw, chakra was surrounding Hinata's hands, and she was moving with incredible speed and flexibility. While the stones were falling, she was hitting each one with her hands. She tried to only hit the ones that were above Zero and around herself, refraining from hurting Zero at all. Each stone was shattered into pieces, leaving no mark on Zero.

Zero's mouth was open while she performed this. " _What kind of jutsu is that...is it a kekkei genkai?_ " He thought. Zero remembered what she just did to perform it and placed it in the front of his mind

"Good job, Hinata." Naruto said. Zero noticed that Hinata's cheeks turned red when she heard that from Naruto. "Alright, Bushy-Brow has the rock prepared for you." He pointed off towards Lee, who was standing next to a large rock, about the size of two adult ninjas and the width of a small room.

"Zero, you must know a little bit of taijutsu, correct?" Lee asked. Zero was still analyzing how to perform Hinata's jutsu, so he nodded. "Okay, them I want you to come over here and hit this rock. Remember, you need to focus all of your chakra to your hands and release it.

Zero came back from thinking, and abided by Lee's order and walked over to him. Since he knew a little bit of taijutsu, he was able to focus his chakra towards his hands as his hands started to glow. The chakra in his hands made him feel like he had immense power. Zero charged at the rock, striking it the moment he got to it. The rock had a small crack in the place he struck.

"Alright, very nice Zero!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're taijutsu is already doing pretty good."

Lee stared at Zero. " _For a novice...he is doing well._ " He thought. "Good job Zero! Let us improve in a few things first. I see that you aren't striking the rock as if it is your enemy. Use your taijutsu to its limit 100% of the time!"

"Um..." Hinata silently said. The three ninja looked over at the shy girl. "Zero, I have a good idea. Maybe you could, um, change the way your hitting it with your hand?"

Zero thought about it for a second. " _Maybe I could do what Hinata was doing...let me try it out._ " Zero turned his hands into a jab-like position, the type of position that Hinata held her hands when she was perform the Protecting Eight Trigrams. "Like this?" Zero showed and asked her.

Hinata's eyes widened. " _Is that...my hand position?_ " She thought. "Um...yes try that!"

Zero nodded. He turned around to face the rock, and focused his chakra again to his hands. His hands started to glow again, and when he felt that there was enough chakra, he continuously jabbed the rock. With only three jabs, the rock shattered into tiny stones. The presence of the rock left the group, as well as the spectating group off in the distance, in awe. Constant thoughts flew through everybody's head.

" _That's the same movement as Hinata's jutsu?" Tenten thought._

 _"Isn't that what Hinata does?" Sakura thought._

 _"How intriguing. Those look exactly like Hinata's hands during the Protecting Eight Trigrams." Neji thought._

Lee stared at the remaining pieces of the rocks. What Zero had done, was not even close to what a taijutsu novice could do. "H-how did you do that?" Lee questioned.

Zero grinned, but was also in shock. "I really don't know exactly how that happened." He replied. "I just focused all my chakra to my hands, and hit it the way Hinata told me to."

Rock Lee smiled. "That must be your power of youth!" He yelled. "Let's do it again, this time try to hit it twice as harder! Follow what Hinata had told you, but this time hit it with your hand like this!" Rock Lee moved his hands up to a palm position. "I've seen Hinata fight like this a few times. Try to see if this will work!"

" _That jutsu that Hinata did...the Protective Eight Trigrams. I want to learn that. Even if only the Hyuga clan members can learn that, I want to try to master it._ " Zero thought. " _I'll ask her after this taijutsu training._ "

While Zero was thinking, Rock Lee was putting out more boulders for him to practice on. Zero started to focus when Rock Lee had put the thirteenth boulder around the area. "Okay Zero. Let us continue our training!"

* * *

The practice had gone by fast. Night was already falling two hours after they had started Zero's training. They had started relatively late, being as Zero was removed from the medical tent and was assigned his training at 3:00 PM.

Sweat ran down Zero's head. The training got increasingly difficult as it progressed. Rock Lee had him run around the entire village twice, while blindfolded and without his Hidden Darkness headband. Right after that, he had to go through thirty more boulders with only his feet to break them, which was increasingly difficult as he had just practiced with his hands. Zero also had to use a jump rope continuously for about half an hour. Naruto and Hinata were giving him motivation to continue, saying "You can do it!" and things similar to that extent. The training ended after that.

"I think you have trained well today, Zero!" Rock Lee exclaimed. "Tomorrow will be your ninjutsu training with Kakashi sensei, Captain Yamato, and Naruto."

Zero, being completely exhausted, created a fist with his right hand and forced it next to his open left hand, creating some sort of formal hand sign to thank Lee for the training. "That...felt like it took...so long..." Zero wheezed in between his sentence.

"You should probably get some rest now, Zero." Kakashi came up to the four people, along with his group behind him. "I can tell you that tomorrow's training will probably be a little harder than this one." Zero groaned in laziness.

Sakura rushed to Zero and started to use her medical ninjutsu to heal him. Multiple cuts and scraped were scattered around Zero arms and feet, due to the boulders. "We'll make sure to bring the others to wherever you stay later, so that you can introduce yourself."

"You're quite lucky, Zero." Neji said. The others looked towards him. "It just so happens to be that the Hyuga clan has an extra bedroom open."

Hinata smiled. "I'll ask Lord Hiashi if he can stay there." She said, quietly. Neji nodded in approval.

The group stood in silence for a few seconds, disregarding the sound of Zero wheezing. Naruto was the first to speak. "Alright, well we should probably get going. Nice practice today, Zero."

Everyone started to go there separate ways back to the village. Neji and Hinata both waited for Zero to walk up to them. Him being exhausted, it took a little bit for Zero to get to them. "This way." Neji said as he turned around and started to walk towards the village.

Hinata noticed Zero's exhaustion, and tried to help him out. "Zero, would you like some water?" She asked politely.

All Zero could bear to say was a quiet "Yes."

Hinata unzipped her jacket a little and reached into it. She pulled out a small canteen from the inside and handed to Zero. "Here you go." Hinata said. Zero looked up and slowly grabbed the canteen.

Zero opened the canteen. He quickly drank all of it, as if he was going to dehydrate within the next few minutes. Zero felt completely restored when he finished the last bit of water. "Ah...I needed that. Thank you so much, Hinata."

Hinata smiled. "You're welcome."

The two continued to follow Neji. "You two gave me motivation during my practice. That was very nice of you." Zero said. "Naruto's pretty loud though, isn't he?"

Hinata blushed at the sound of his name. "Y-Yes, he is."

Zero noticed the redness on Hinata's cheeks once he said Naruto. " _Does she have a crush on Naruto or something? I've never seen a kunoichi's cheeks get that red when they hear a boy's name, unless they love them._ " He thought. " _Oh right, I needed to ask her about the training!"_ "Hey, uh, Hinata." Hinata looked over at him. "That jutsu that you did, to break all those rocks that were coming at me. I know this is sort of strange, but is there any way you could, uh..." Zero for some reason felt nervous when asking her this, as he didn't want to look stupid in front his first acquaintance in the Leaf village.

Hinata chuckled. "What is it?"

"Could you teach me it?" Zero blurted out.

Hinata was a bit surprised at what he said. Her smile had faded into some sort of gasp, and the two stopped walking. " _Zero wants to learn the...Protective Eight Trigrams?_ " Hinata's smile came back. "Well, I don't know if you can learn it...but I'll try to teach you it."

Zero quietly sighed in relief. "Okay."

"You need to rest, however. Your training was a bit difficult today. I'll come get you later tonight when you'll start your um...training."

"Alright, thank you Hinata. Do you think I'll even be able to learn this? It looked sort of like a kekkei genkai." Zero asked.

"Well, all we can do is try." Hinata kept the smile on her face. "No one outside of the Hyuga clan has ever learned this, though."

Zero couldn't help but grow a smile on his face when looking at Hinata's smile. "That's true. All we can do is try."

The two continued to follow Neji towards the village, it growing closer and closer by the second. Zero and Hinata kept their conversation going all the way towards the village, letting Hinata learn more about Zero, and vice versa. Hinata also explained a bit about Naruto on the way as well, and Zero just telling her what he likes and dislikes. The two had a bit in common, both being a bit quiet and shy and liking a few of the same foods. There was a bond slowly growing between them.

" _I feel that I can already consider her, um, what is it they call it?_ " Zero thought as they reached the village. " _Oh right, a friend is what they call it. I think I can consider her my friend._ "

* * *

 **I finished Chapter 4, this time I had to edit it. I decided to not let Zero learn the Trigrams in Chapter 4, he's getting a bit too overpowered, mastering it in less than three minutes. So, I changed it so that Hinata will teach him it.**

 **So, remember to review/favorite/follow this story if you liked it! Chapter 5 will be out soon. This is AM, signing off.**


	6. When Bonds Form

**Welcome to Chapter 5 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero - A New Leaf!" I changed the name again, just trying to find one that fits well. I was going to name it "Shippuden Zero - A New Leaf" since the story isn't mainly about Naruto. Actually I might change it to that title once the story gets a bit more popular.**

 **If you didn't know already, I updated Chapter 4 A LOT. I changed everything that happened after Zero had started his taijutsu training, except for when Hinata had used her Protective Eight Trigrams. Please read it again if you would like to know what actually happened.**

 **So, let's get on with this chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

" _Konoha looks...normal._ " Zero thought as he and Hinata walked through the village. Neji had already been out of their sight, heading towards the Hyuga household. "What happened here, Hinata?" Zero asked.

"We were attacked by the Akatsuki." Hinata replied. "Naruto was able to defeat their leader, Pain." Her cheeks grew red again. "If he didn't save us, Kakashi sensei wouldn't be here today."

"You know, I've heard about the Akatsuki when I was traveling the region. One of their members was apparently from one of the villages I visited." Zero explained. "They're powerful aren't they?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes. Naruto managed to defeat them though, with his Nine-Tails power."

"He seemed a bit outgoing...is he always like that?"

"Always! We all admire Naruto, he gives us the strength that we need to defeat anyone. He was nicknamed 'The Boy who makes Miracles'".

Zero didn't reply for a second. He finally did so when he finished his thought. "He seems like a good person. Maybe you, him, and I could go get some food at one point."

Hinata blushed once again. "U-um...sure that would be nice to go do that with N-Naruto and you."

Zero looked over at Hinata's face again. " _Well, now it's just guaranteed that she loves Naruto. I don't think I should call her out on it, though. Wouldn't be good to lose a uh, new friend._ " Zero thought. " _Why do I keep forgetting that word..._ "

The two came around a corner at the end of one of the streets. Hinata's cheeks turned back to their regular color. "The Hyuga household is around here. We had to relocate to another area, since the village was destroyed." They took a left and went down that road, and about a block down, they came to a large house made of oak wood. Windows were covered with shades around the top floor.

Zero looked at the house in awe. "This place is REALLY big!" He put emphasis on the 'really'.

Hinata chuckled quietly. "Our other house was twice as big as this." She said. "Lets go inside and ask for you to have that extra bedroom." They got to the door, and Hinata opened it slowly. With no concern of what was happening, she and Zero had walked in without even looking inside. The two appeared to be a few feet away from Neji speaking with some other man with long hair.

"Lord Hiashi, do we have an extra room available?" Neji asked. "We have a visitor who would like to stay here for a bit."

"Unfortunately, our last room is now occupied." Lord Hiashi replied. "Who is this visitor you speak of?"

"His name is Zero. He is a Genin, however is the same age as myself. He possesses some sort of ability that is similar to the Byakugan." Neji noticed Zero and Hinata standing in the doorway. "That is him over there with Lady Hinata."

Lord Hiashi turned around to face Zero and Hinata. "You are Zero?" He asked Zero.

Zero nodded. "Yes I am, sir." He could already tell from Neji's conversation with him that he was some sort of higher up in the Hyuga clan, so he used 'sir' to give respect to Lord Hiashi.

"I'll have to inspect that ability of yours. For now, you will be assigned a room with another Hyuga clan member. You will be living in the same quarters as Hinata." Lord Hiashi explained. "Hinata, I trust that you will not be a nuisance to Zero? He seems to be in exhaustion."

Hinata looked at the ground. "Yes, Lord Hiashi."

"Very well then." Lord Hiashi turned away and walked off into another room. Neji also went off to another room.

Hinata looked up from the ground when those two left the room. "Let's go, Zero." She said quietly. The two walked off to where Neji had gone off to.

Zero noticed a bit of sadness in both her voice and on her face. " _I probably shouldn't ask her about what happened. Maybe in the room...? Well either way, I've got something else to ask her._ " Zero thought. "Hey, Hinata, are you okay with a shinobi sleeping in the same room as you...?"

Hinata looked up at Zero and her smile returned to her. "Of course I am, Zero." She quietly exclaimed. "You're a nice person, after all."

Zero grinned. "Alright."

* * *

The two had arrived at Hinata's room after a few minutes. "This is it." Hinata said as she opened the door that was blocking the two from entering. The room was very big, despite Hinata only being one person.

"This is a pretty big room." Zero examined. "You could fit an entire family in here!"

Hinata chuckled. "My other room was even larger than this at the previous Hyuga household."

"Damn, I wish I had a room like this..."

Silence came upon both of them. "Well, I can go get a sleeping bag for you, if you need one Zero." Hinata suggested.

"Nah, I'm fine. I can sleep on the floor, all I would need is a blanket."

Hinata was a bit surprised at Zero's remark. "Are you sure...?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Hinata nodded after a bit. "I'll go get your blanket." She walked off away from the room to go get Zero the blanket he requested.

While Hinata was away for a bit, Zero walked into her room to examine what was in it. All Hinata had was a bed, a window, and a desk with a few pictures on it. " _This room is a bit too big for Hinata to only a few things in it._ " Zero looked over at the desk and walked up towards it. The pictures on her desk were of different people. The first picture was of Hinata and another girl. The girl had the same eyes has Hinata, meaning she was a member of the Hyuga clan. She had brown hair and her skin was a bit darker. The girl had medium sized brown hair. " _Must be a sister or something._ " Zero thought. The picture was titled "HINATA AND HANABI"

The second picture was Hinata and her friends. A few people came into Zero's memory, as he had seen them in the medical tent and during training. " _What are their names? The only ones I can remember are Naruto, Neji, Rock Lee, um...Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and...er the others I don't really know._ " Zero thought. The picture was titled "THE KONOHA 11".

The last picture was of Naruto and Hinata, a picture that was taken of them as kids. " _They have to be about to enter the academy. They don't have a headband or goggles yet..._ " Zero thought. The picture was titled "WAIT FOR ME". Zero knew both of them, but it still didn't make sense why it was titled this.

Before Zero could think more about this, Hinata walked through the doorway. "Alright Zero, I have your blanket." She said with a large blanket that was folded in her grasp.

"Thanks Hinata." Zero said as he pointed to the pictures. "I was looking at your pictures," Hinata slowly started to get red again when Zero pointed at the picture of Naruto and her. "You seem to have- "

Before Zero could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a few voices coming through the doorway. "Hi Zero!" One of them said. Sakura and Naruto were in front of the group, with at least eight other people behind them. Zero could depict the people that he remembered from one of Hinata's picture.

"Hello Naruto and Sakura." Zero turned around as his eyes opened at the large group of people. "S-so these are y-your f-friends?" Zero asked with a few stutters in between his sentence.

"Yes. You've met most of them, but not personally I presume?" Sakura asked. Zero nodded quickly, as another drop of sweat came down his head. "Well, let us introduce you again."

"This is Shino. He's an insect user." Naruto pointed at a male with part of his face covered with his clothing and his glasses. He was also wearing a hood. He gave a slight wave.

"Hello, Zero."

"This is Tenten. She was at your taijutsu training. She's got a bunch of weapons, and almost never goes on missions with us!" Naruto pointed to the girl with brown hair with two buns. The girl scowled at Naruto and punched him in the face, sending him flying into a wall.

" **WELL MAYBE IF I WASN'T ON MISSIONS WITH LEE AND NEJI ALL THE TIME, I WOULD!** " Tenten yelled. This created fear in all of the people in the room, except Sakura, who had a smile on her face. Tenten calmed down and looked at Zero. "Sorry to make a bad first impression. I'm Tenten!" She exclaimed, getting closer and closer to Zero. "You're eyes...so dreaaaamy..."

Naruto got ahold of himself and introduced the next person. "...she also gets a crush on the first guy she sees..." He whispered.

" **WHAT DID YOU SAY?** " She yelled again at Naruto, grabbing him by the neck and holding a fist up to his face.

"Nothing!" Naruto quickly stated. Tenten removed her grip on Naruto and went back to the group. The next person came to introduce herself, and this just so happened to be the same girl at the medical tent that Zero saw when he woke up. "This is Ino. She's a medical ninja like Sakura. She was at the medical tent, healing you."

"Hi Zero!" Ino said as she waved at him.

Ino went back to the group, and more and more people kept introducing themselves. Zero was still sweating very badly from the amount of people that were here. " _Man do I hate being the topic of a lot of people...social anxiety sucks..._ " Zero thought about his fear of talking to a lot of people at once while more and more people kept introducing themselves. The people he was introduced to were Kiba, a beast-tamer, and his dog, Akamaru, Sakura, the medical ninja, Sai, an artist that creates pictures of things that can become 3-D and fight for him, Neji, which was of course Hinata's cousin, Rock Lee, his taijutsu trainer, Shikamaru, the brains of the team that complained that being the brains of the team is a "drag", and finally Choji, who was eating a bag of chips when introducing himself.

"I-It's nice to m-meet you all." Zero told the group, stuttering a bit again. Some nodded, some waved, and others started to leave, the first two groups of people following them.

"Wait!" Naruto said as he turned back around, making the others turn around. "Zero, tomorrow all of us are going to the local barbeque that just opened up to have a nice dinner together. Do you want to go with us...?"

"Uh, I-I'm not s-so sure that I should...since I'm n-new and all."

Naruto grinned a bit. "Don't worry about it, you don't have to pay. Shikamaru is paying!" Naruto exclaimed. Shikamaru groaned again when he heard this.

"Can't you guys pay for yourselves? I'm not some chest filled with money..." Shikamaru explained.

Naruto ignored the remark of Shikamaru. "So are you coming?"

Zero laughed a bit. "I guess."

"Ha! Alright, see you later Zero!"

Everybody except Hinata left the room, which let Zero sigh in relief as he slumped down onto one of the walls. "Finally...they're gone..." He said.

"Why did you want them to leave so badly?" Hinata questioned, once again being a bit quiet.

Zero turned towards the shy kunoichi. "Oh, it's just that I get a little nervous when it comes to large crowds," Zero explained. "I'm okay with talking to a small amount of people...like you for example."

"Oh...okay." Hinata replied. "Well, you should probably rest up, Zero. I'm going to teach you the Protective Eight Trigrams in a few hours."

"Got it." Zero threw the blanket over him. "What're you going to do?"

"Well, I might go outside the room and just train for a bit." Hinata explained. "Just call me if you need me." Hinata told Zero as she started to open the door. "Rest well, Zero."

Zero laughed a bit. "Thanks, Hinata."

* * *

The sun completely dissappeared from the sky. Night had fallen, and the sound of birds had changed to the sound of crickets. The night sky was filled with stars and the bright moon.

Zero was still in Hinata's room, resting on the floor as he was a few hours ago. His chakra was completely regenerated, thanks to the short nap he got. Hinata had also brought him a small piece of bread and a cup of water.

The door slowly freaked open, revealing Hinata entering her room. Zero didn't even wake up at the sound of the door opening, so Hinata quietly stepped across the room. He still didn't wake up.

" _He must be a heavy sleeper..._ " Hinata thought. She went up to Zero and crouched down. Hinata tapped his nose to see if that would wake him. It did, and Zero slowly opened his eyes. He was a bit surprised to see Hinata right in front of his face.

"Damn, Hinata. Don't scare me like that."

Hinata chuckled and got up to walk to the door. "Come on, it's time for me to teach you that jutsu."

Zero nodded and got up from where he was resting. He followed Hinata out the door, to where they were headed to train. They walked out towards the same way they had came in, and

"What were you dreaming of?" Hinata decided to strike up a conversation while they were walking towards the front entrance of the Hyuga household.

Zero laughed. "Not sure, I don't really see my dreams."

"Really?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah. It's usually just all black that I see." Zero explained.

"Oh, that's a little strange." Hinata said, quietly. The two had arrived at the front door of the Hyuga household. "Well, just, um, follow me and I'll show you where we're going to train." Hinata opened the front door and walked off towards the right. Zero followed closely behind.

During the twenty minutes of walking, Zero once again got to know a little more about Hinata, and one of the adventures she went on with Naruto and the others. Apparently it was when they battled a crystal user name Gurin, and Naruto had managed to change her thoughts about how she wanted to live her life. "Naruto is able to change anyone. Gurin started to take care of the child that was able to control the Three-Tailed beast."

"Naruto sure is someone to look up to..." Zero said.

Five minutes after that, they had finally made it to a clearing in the forest outside of the village. "Okay, we're here." Hinata said as she stopped walking and showed Zero the spot where she was going to teach him the Protective Eight Trigrams.

Zero looked around. "This is a nice spot you picked, Hinata."

Hinata nodded and turned to Zero. "Okay Zero, it's time for you to learn the Protective Eight Trigrams!"

* * *

 **That's Chapter 5 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! This chapter was longer than I usually make stories, which is around 2,100 words a chapter. Either way though, it's time for Zero to learn Hinata's jutsu. Will he be able to know it? If you readers know how a story like this goes, than you'll probably know the conclusion of his training next chapter. :P**

 **Well, I hope you guys review/favorite/follow the story if you liked it! Also, make sure to follow my Tumblr for an update on stories. My username is "assassinmasterff". Chapter 6 will be out by tomorrow. This is AM, signing off.**


	7. A Night Of The Sheer Will

**Hello** **everybody! Welcome to Chapter 6 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! Last chapter seemed to spark a lot of views within the story, so I'm very glad about that!**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow this story if you liked this chapter!**

 **Also, follow me on my Tumblr, I keep updates on stories there every time I upload new chapters. "assassinmasterff"**

 **With that, enjoy Chapter 6!**

* * *

"Okay Zero, I want you to focus all of your chakra in your, um hands." Hinata's shy voice commanded. Zero followed the instructions, and eventually he felt that all of his power could be formed into a punch within his hands. "Focus very hard, you need to have all of your power in your hands." Zero kept on focusing harder and harder, and eventually his hands started to glow with blue chakra. Sweat was already rolling down his head from the concentration that he was undergoing. He made sure to look at his hands to see if this was working.

" _Damn...how the hell did I do this the first time...?_ " Zero thought of his first taijutsu training. " _Beginner's luck?_ "

"Imagine that your hands are small swords. That should allow your hands to take the power of a sword." Hinata explained. Zero did so, and eventually the chakra was starting to obtain an edge in the middle, taking the form of a large spike. The power felt amazing, Zero felt like he could punch anything with the conclusion of it breaking. "Do you remember the first hand position you did during your first training session with Lee?"

Zero looked up from his hands. "Yeah," Zero shaped his hands into a small jab-like position, with his palm facing upwards. "Like this?"

"Yes." Hinata confirmed. "However, turn your palms upside down. Zero followed the instructions, and turned his palms upside down.

Zero's eyes widened a bit at what he saw. Not only was the chakra blue, but it was also turning a bit yellow in the middle of the back of his hand. "Uh, Hinata?" Zero asked as Hinata started to walk over to him. "What's this?" Zero showed her the yellow chakra on the back of his hand.

"Yellow chakra?' Hinata asked. "That's new..."

Zero shook his head. "Whatever. Let's just continue with the training." Zero said. Hinata nodded to this and backed up a little to give him the room he needed to perform the jutsu.

"Okay, Zero. Now here comes the part that only the Hyuga clan has been said to do." Hinata explained. "Try to force your chakra to surround you, like a barrier." Hinata looked down and grabbed a few rocks that were lying around her.

Zero focused on his chakra and kept thinking of a barrier. " _Barrier...barrier..._ " Zero made sure to keep the thought of a large barrier around his entire body. " _Come on...a barrier...around my entire body..._ " Zero focused almost all of the leftover chakra that had to lie around his body and forced it out, forming a small wall around the front of his body.

Hinata looked in awe. "You're able to do that...?" Hinata whispered. Zero, with his enhanced hearing, could hear the whisper and gave a nod. Hinata kept focusing on his training and gave another command. "Okay, I'm going to throw these rocks at you. Try to hit them with your hands in the same position."

Zero looked up, only to see three rocks flying his way. " _Wait for them to get closer...come on..._ " Zero was trying to time it perfectly. The rocks kept flying at him, until Zero knew that they were within length of his hands. Suddenly, his hand lashed out towards the first rock and hit it with incredible strength and accuracy. The rock shattered into pieces, landing onto the floor as if being hit by a large hammer, only Zero was striking it with his hand. The next two rocks came, luckily Zero had enough time to react to both of them. One was flying towards his head, and another at his right hand. Zero, once again, tried to hit them with the same strength as before. Both of Zero's hands flew towards the rocks, his right hand going towards the rock on the right, and his left hand going upwards towards the rock that was flying towards his head. Both of the rocks shattered when they came in contact with Zero's hand. The remainders of the rocks fell down on the ground, not making a single noise. The barrier then disappeared into thin air, showing Zero's body again. He was completely exhausted, just by doing this.

Hinata once again came into shock. Although her face did not show it, on the inside she was actually very surprised. "...How did you manage to do that Zero...?" She quietly questioned.

Zero laughed. "All I can say is that I did what you told me to do, it just carried on from there!"

Hinata couldn't help but smile. "Good job...Zer-"

" **LADY HINATA!** " A voice yelled from behind them. Zero and Hinata both turned around to see who it was, and to their surprise, Neji was running towards them, along with Naruto. They both stopped when they got close to them. "Lady Hinata! It is past your curfew. Do you know what Lord Hiashi could do?"

Hinata was too busy looking at Naruto. "N-Naruto..." Hinata whispered as her cheeks turned red again.

"Lady Hinata!" Neji called her name. "Whatever you were doing, stop it and come to the house this instant. Lord Hiashi will be very angry with you if he finds out you stayed up past your curfew, along with our new visitor."

Hinata looked to Neji. "Yes Elder Brother..." She said as she walked towards Neji. Before she got to him, she quickly turned to Zero and whispered, "Same time tomorrow?"

Zero nodded. "Yes, Hinata."

The two Hyuga clan members walked away back towards the village. Zero and Naruto were the only ones left there. "Hey, Zero." Naruto said to him.

"Hello, Naruto." Zero replied.

"What was Hinata doing with you way out here?" Naruto asked. "Especially this late."

Zero coughed quietly. "She was teaching me a new jutsu, that's all." He replied, trying not to give away exactly what Justus he had just learned.

"Huh...okay. Well we should probably get back to the village."

"Yeah, I guess so." Zero and Naruto started to walk back to the village, the same route Neji and Hinata were going. Their trails were being left behind, so it shouldn't of been hard if they had gone out of sight. Zero could've also used his Z-vision if they had gone too far without leaving any tracks. During their way back, Zero had interacted the same way with Naruto when he did with Hinata. He had learned more about him, mainly the Nine-Tailed fox though.

"Also, there's this...person that I'm trying to bring back." Naruto said at one point.

"Oh? What's his name?"

"...Sasuke. He was my best friend. You remember Sakura, right?" Zero nodded. "Well, her, Sasuke and I were all part of Team 7, one of the ninja teams in the Hidden Leaf along with our sensei, Kakashi. We went on adventures together all the time, but at one point, Sasuke betrayed the village and went to go train with Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sanin and also a rogue shinobi."

"Must feel bad...losing a best friend like that." Zero said. "I hope he comes back though, he seemed like a pretty cool shinobi."

"Heh. I'm trying, hasn't worked the past times I've tried though." Naruto grinned.

The two had finally made it back to the village. They both waved their goodbyes and went separate ways, Zero following Neji and Hinata back to the Hyuga household. The moon was directly above him, meaning that it was midnight.

The three of them got onto the roof of the household when they got there, finding Hinata's room easily. Neji scolded them both once more to not stay up this late unless on a mission. Once Zero and Hinata nodded, Neji went off towards another section of the household. Zero opened the window and let Hinata in first, following the chivalry rule between shinobi and kunoichi.

The room was exactly as it was when they left, meaning no one had came in at all. The maids of the Hyuga household had probably skipped them, since Zero's blanket was in the exact same spot and wasn't folded. Hinata got into her bed, and Zero onto the floor wrapping the blanket around himself. The moon was creating enough light in the room so that Zero could see still see Hinata without using his Z-vision. The two lay in silence for a moment. Zero was slowly falling asleep little by little. When Hinata said something, he woke up right away.

"Zero?" Hinata's shy voice came from her bed.

"Yeah Hinata?" Zero asked as his eyes focused on her. Hinata got up to look at him as well.

"Are you okay with me asking you about your childhood?"

Zero's eyes widened as an image slowly crept into his mind. He quickly shook his head to get the image of his family out of his mind. "I...uh guess so." Zero replied.

Hinata got up from her bed and sat next to Zero. "What if something starts to happen again...?"

"I doubt it will." Zero quietly laughed. "I'm telling it to a...uh what was that word again..." Zero continued to think of the word that kept leaving his memory. "A fr...ied? A ferond?"

A chuckle came out of Hinata's mouth. "You mean a friend?"

"Right, that. I'm telling it to a friend, so it shouldn't do what happened in the forest." Zero explained. "That transformation only happened because I didn't know you guys."

" _He is very...strange, but I can relate to him, since we're both a bit shy. But he is a nice person after all. I wonder what is troubling him..._ " Hinata thought.

"Alright so...this is how it went down. I came from the Village Hidden in the Darkness, like you've heard before at the medical tent." Zero said as Hinata nodded. "The day I came out of the Academy and had become a Genin of the village. I was made fun of nonstop because of my different colored eyes. My right eye used to be indigo and my left eye was orange. I was made fun of by my entire class, it was pretty harsh some days. You know...I specifically remember one of those bullies..." Zero looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "I can't really remember his name...but he was the main bully. Messing with me every day, calling me names, and even whooping my ass during fights at the Academy." He laughed. "It just made me want to impale him with a sword...constantly he would make fun of me..."

Zero's eyes were starting to change color from its original golden state to a slight shade of red. Hinata saw the transformation in his eyes right when it began. "Zero!" She squeaked. "Calm down Zero...you do not have to tell me if this is going to make you angry about your past."

The shade of red was starting to fade away from his eyes, back to the gold color. "Right, my apologies, Hinata." Zero said as he decided to forget about the images flying through his head. For a few seconds they sat in silence. "Hey, Hinata..." Hinata looked his way.

"Yes?" Hinata asked with her usual quiet voice.

"How come you're so nice to me?" Zero asked. Hinata looked towards Zero. "I've really only met you this morning."

Hinata chuckled. "I just think you're a nice person to talk to." She said. "We're a bit similar...so it's not hard for me to talk to you that much."

"Oh, I guess you're right." Zero concluded. "Both of us are shy and quiet, huh?"

"Yes. Only, I'm a kunoichi. I've never really seen any other male shinobi as shy as you though."

"What about that Shino person? He seems like he doesn't talk too much."

Hinata chuckled again. "He may seem quiet at first, but he actually has a lot of emotions and is a good leader of our team. He isn't shy, though."

Zero remembered Naruto and their conversation. "That Naruto...he's sort of like the opposite of Shino a bit."

A little bit of red color came onto Hinata's cheeks. "Yes, N-Naruto is a bit outgoing. He's a great person to look up to, though."

" _He's not even here...she already is blushing at the sound of his name? Damn. That's some crazy love she's got for Naruto._ " Zero thought. "Mhm." He said.

A few more seconds of silence passed between the two. Zero spoke up first. "Well, it's getting a bit late. You should probably get some rest."

Hinata got up from the spot she was sitting beside Zero and started to walk over to her bed. Once covered in her blankets, she spoke again. "You are right. I need to regenerate my chakra a bit." Hinata explained.

"Yeah, I need to as well." Zero laughed a bit at his remark. "Especially from all the hard training to learn the jutsu a little." He could hear a chuckle come from the bed Hinata was laying in. It stopped after a few seconds.

"Good night, Zero."

"Sleep well, Hinata."

* * *

 **That's the end of Chapter 6 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero - A New Leaf"! I hope you all enjoyed, and for some reason it felt like that chapter was longer than it actually appeared.**

 **Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Remember to review/favorite/follow it if you like the story so far! Chapter 7 will be out sometime tomorrow or maybe Friday if I don't finish it tomorrow. I probably will though.**

 **This is AM, signing off.**


	8. Dinner

**Welcome to Chapter 7 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! Another large spark of views happened that chapter. I'm very proud of that! It must mean you guys are starting to like the story a bit.**

 **Once again, remember to review this story and tell me if you like it so far! I'll take any suggestions into consideration, as long as they're not troll suggestions. If you have a Fanfiction account, remember to follow/favorite it as well if you liked it!**

 **The real suspense starts to begin in this chapter. Not much of the main story, but Zero's powers come back.**

 **That's all I can remember to say for this A/N. Enjoy Chapter 7!**

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Light started to peak its way through the window of Hinata's room. Her window was being blown by wind, and the sun was already above the sky. They had overslept.

Zero was still sleeping on the floor next to Hinata's desk. Although sleeping on a wooden floor was a little bad, he stilled managed to fall asleep. Zero had slowly fallen towards the floor, put with the lack of speed when falling and being a heavy sleeper, it didn't wake him up. When the sun came across his face, it awoke Zero right away. "Huh..." Zero said as he tried to block the sunlight that was pouring onto his face. "Good morni-"

Hinata was still asleep, so Zero decided not to wake her up. He got up without making the faintest of noises. Not even his feet were making noise when touching the ground. Zero completely disregarded not making any noise despite of the creaky wooden floor. " _She needs her rest. We did end training a little late last night._ " Zero walked backwards to try to get to the door as fast but as quietly as possible.

He bumped into something while getting close to something. Zero turned around, and was surprised to see Hinata standing in front of him with a smile on her face. Zero pointed at her, and then turned around to point at the Hinata that was supposedly asleep. When he looked back at the bed, the Hinata there had disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Hinata chuckled a bit at the sight of Zero being a little clueless. "I'm trying to do the Shadow Clone technique," She explained. "It's a ninjutsu that Naruto was able to master when we were in the Academy."

"You know that would sum it up." Zero stated, giving Hinata another laugh. " _She sure does laugh a lot for being a shy person like me...her laughs are a little quiet though so it makes sense._ " He thought. "Hey, so when are we going to that new barbecue place? I've been thinking that this should be a way to end my anxiety around large amounts of people."

"I'm not so sure...Sakura was going to come get us in a minute." Hinata hypothesized. "What do you want to do while we're waiting?"

Zero laughed. "Well, training is the only thing that comes up in my head."

"Kakashi sensei is away on a mission, so your ninjutsu training is cancelled I believe," Hinata explained. "Maybe someone else could train you?"

"Is it okay if I take a break from training?" Zero asked. "Yesterday was a lot of training, after all."

"Yes, of course. I can tell you about the village while we're walking."

Suddenly, Naruto rushed through the door. "Guys!" He focused on the two people in front of him.

"Oh, good morning Naruto." Zero said.

Hinata started to blush again. "H...Hi N-Naruto," Hinata stuttered.

"Good morning?! It's almost nighttime?" Naruto exclaimed in utter confusion.

Hinata and Zero both looked at him in amazement. " **WHAT?!** " Zero questioned. A bit loud which was out of his personality.

"We must've...overslept." Hinata whispered while still red from seeing Naruto in his room.

"Well, come on guys! It's time to get to the barbecue! Sakura reserved twelve seats for us, since Zero is coming." Naruto explained. "It should be fun, everyone from yesterday is there."

Zero shuddered at the thought of this. "Uh, Naruto," He said, making Naruto look at him. "Since you and Hinata are basically my only friends here, I'd like to confess something. Hinata already knows." Zero pointed at Hinata, who was still bright red due to Naruto's presence. "I have anxiety around large amounts of people."

"Anxiety? So you mean that you get nervous around a lot of people?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah, just around a lot of people, like yesterday when you all came to visit."

Naruto thought about that for a second. "So that's why you were sweating, huh? You should be glad I was the only one to notice it. Sakura is smart, but she didn't even know that you were sweating!"

"Uh huh." Zero laughed a little.

"Well, don't worry. It's not like any of us will get mad at you or anything. We're all a friendly bunch," Naruto leaned into Zero to whisper something. "But watch out for Kiba. He gets easily angry when you're better than him at something."

"Ha, got it. I think I should be able to do it. As long as there aren't any crowds or anything, I'll be fine."

"Of course! It's just gonna be us twelve eating dinner." Naruto exclaimed. The three of them stood in silence for a moment. "Well, let's get going."

Naruto, Zero, and Hinata all walked out of the Hinata's room and out towards the front of the Hyuga household. Surprisingly enough, it was getting dark outside minute by minute, just like Naruto had told them. Stars were starting to appear in the dim sky, and the redness of the sun was slowly descending over the opposite horizon it had came from. Sakura was waiting for them at the front door. "Are you guys ready?" She asked Hinata and Zero. The two of them nodded in unison. "Well let's get going to make sure we don't keep the others waiting."

They continued out the door and towards the left side of the household. "Sakura, just a heads up." Naruto said to her. "Zero gets nervous when it comes to large crowds, so don't do anything too rowdy."

" **WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?** " Sakura yelled at him. She grabbed him by his collar and put a fist next to his face.

Naruto cowarded in fear trying to breathe in air. "N-Nothing Sakura! Just don't get a big crowd...to come over or anything. Us twelve...should be fine!"

Sakura's angry expression completely faded away and turned into a smile. She turned to Zero while still holding Naruto by the collar, similar to a passive-aggressive message. "Nothing to worry about, Zero!" Sakura let go of Naruto, forcing Naruto to breathe for air. They continued down the road.

After a few blocks, Zero decided to turn his attention to Hinata. "Hey, Hinata? Sakura is a bit...uh...how can I say this..." Zero said to the shy girl while trying to keep his voice down to make sure he didn't end up like Naruto.

"Easily aggravated?" Hinata suggested. She didn't have to whisper because her normal voice was a little quiet.

"That's the word for it."

They all stopped before a building that looked a little like a store. "Here we are!" Sakura exclaimed.

Zero could smell the food coming from inside the house. "Wow, that smells really good..." Zero observed from the scent.

A chuckle came out of Hinata. "What is that thing called again that you know? Z-vision? Use that to get an even better smell."

"Oh!" Zero exclaimed. "You're right!" He focused all of his chakra to his nose and his eyes again, however this time he sent a small shockwave of chakra through this body, creating a spark of regeneration. Zero's scent had now multiplied by four, and he could also see through the entire restaurant and who was in it. The smell of food engulfed Zero's nose, in which that was all he could smell. "WOW!" He said, looking at the sky and taking a few sniffs. "That is...pork? And ramen?"

"It smells as good as it tastes!" Naruto exclaimed. "Just wait until you eat it!"

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, you're not even acknowledging that fact that Zero can smell liquid?"

"What? That's pretty cool..."

They all went inside as Zero released his chakra focus and blinked once, removing the Z-vision.

* * *

Inside the restaurant, a few servants were walking back and forth from the kitchen to each of the tables. The smell had gotten stronger, even without Zero's Z-vision.

Sakura had brought them to a corner, and around that was the rest of the Konoha 11. The first one to notice the group was Choji, who was sitting at the end of the table consuming his food. "Wow, this pork is good!" Obviously, Choji was too busy eating food to greet them.

Naruto leaned into Zero to whisper him something again. "Oh, and make sure you take your food fast. Choji will eat almost anything on the grill."

Finally, Ino noticed the group heading their way. "Hi guys!" She smiled and waved to the oncoming group.

The entire group now came into view. " _Let me try to remember their names..._ " Zero thought, looking at the group. A small drop of sweat fell down the back of his head due to the crowd, but it was the only one that fell. " _Let's see...Kiba, Ino, Shino, Choji, Neji, uh...that guy's name is...Shikamaru? Right? Yeah I think it was Shikamaru. And then Tenten and Lee._ "

"Hello there Zero!" Rock Lee exclaimed with a wave. All Zero could manage to get out without showing his anxiety was a wave.

"Naruto, you're late." Shikamaru notified. "Do I still have to pay?"

The four took their seats, Hinata being to the left of Zero, Zero being to the left of Naruto, and Naruto to the left of Sakura. "You bet you still have to pay!" Naruto confirmed with a mischievous smile. This made Shikamaru groan.

"This is such a drag..."

"Oh, whatever Shikamaru," Ino said. "So, Zero!" She turned her attention to the new ninja. "How was you're training yesterday?"

Zero grabbed a piece of chicken before Choji could take his, along with four other pieces. "It was, fine I guess," Zero decided not to mention the training with Hinata. "Lee was training me a lot with taijutsu."

"The water that was coming down your face was not sweat, but it was tears of youth!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

Zero looked at Rock Lee with a questioning expression. "There you go again Lee, always saying exactly what Guy sensei says." Tenten said from across the table.

"That is because Guy sensei is the most powerful jonin in the Hidden Leaf!" Lee argued. "He will never die of age!" Tenten rolled her eyes. She went to go grab a piece of pork on the grill, but was too slow and Choji snatched it first.

"Come on, Choji! You're taking all the food!" Tenten complained.

Choji laughed before putting his food in his mouth. "Sorry! I haven't eaten in a while!"

"You ate right before we came to this place." Shikamaru said.

"Right..."

Zero looked around the table, examining everyone around him. When he came to Hinata, he stopped for a moment. " _Huh...she isn't really saying anything..._ " Zero noticed. "Hey, Hinata," Zero called for her name. The shy Hyuga girl turned to him. "How come you're so quiet?"

Hinata's cheeks were bright red,p as she pointed to Naruto, who was talking to Neji and Sakura behind them. "N-N-Naruto..." She whispered.

" _So now it's one-hundred and ten percent guaranteed that she likes Naruto._ " Zero thought, and nodded because he understood what Hinata was so shy about. "Oh, okay."

"Zero!" A voice came from behind Naruto. A peering pink-haired Sakura looked at him. "We decided to give you a present, as a welcoming gift for you joining the Hidden Leaf." She explained. "Before he went on his mission, Kakashi sensei told me that he was going to give you're ninja uniform when he got back. So we all decided to give you this weapon holder as a gift!" She handed Zero some sort of item that looked like a handle. It had a small opening on one side with a push-back mechanic.

"It can hold any weapon and adjust to the handles size!" Tenten explained. "It also removes the weapon fairly easy."

Zero politely grabbed the weapon holder. "Thanks you guys, this is really nice of you." The others smiled, however Hinata was still blushing red from Naruto being close to her.

Naruto laughed a little. "It's no problem! Well, let's keep eatin-"

Naruto was interrupted by a large "BOOM". The sound echoed throughout the restaurant, going in and out of the windows.

"What was that?" Rock Lee stood up and asked. They all quickly got up from their seats and ran out the door of the restaurant.

The sight was a little hard to depict from the night sky, but they could clearly see what was going on. The visual left everyone in shock, creating a large amount of delusions in the twelve minds outside the restaurant.

The Hokage building was engulfed in flames.

* * *

 **Sorry about the delay in creating this chapter. Once again, for some reason, it takes a while to make these. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 7 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! I know I said the suspense begins this chapter, I originally put "action" though, but fixed it because suspense fit the role better.**

 **If you liked this chapter, make sure to review/favorite/follow! It would really help! :)**

 **Chapter 8 will be out by Monday/Tuesday. This is AM, signing off.**


	9. A Weapon Of Friendship

**Alright, looks like I'm back from the weekend break. Time to get to Chapter 8 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"!**

 **I just watched "The Last: Naruto The Movie" on my phone last night, and I have to say, it's possibly one of my favorite movies now. It had great romance in it and honestly a pretty fitting story. I would've preferred it to be longer, though.**

 **Also, just a quick recap on the time period of this story in relation to the show. Before the Fourth Great Ninja War, this happened in the span of two weeks. Directly after this is when Naruto is sent to Lightning Island to control the Nine-Tailed Fox. This arc also happened when Naruto returned from the Summit.**

 **Well, now that I've watched that I just have to wait for the remainder of Shippuden, while I'm continuing this story. Luckily for you guys, I have a LOT planned for this story and future stories.**

 **Well, with that, I hope you guys enjoy Chapter 8!**

* * *

The Hokage building was completely surrounded in orange flames from top to bottom. Screams were slowly erupting from the area around it, from what Zero saw.

"Hinata! Can you guys see anything?" Shikamaru asked the two.

" _Byakugan!_ " Hinata thought as veins started to appear around her eyes. The environment turned white and purple, letting her focus her sight on the Hokage building and everything that was inside of it. However, only the top floor was visible to her because the fire, for some reason, was blocking her Byakugan from seeing everything else. She saw two people at the top floor, one being Tsunade and the other Shizune. "I can see Lady Tsunade and Shizune in the building," Hinata told them. "Everything else is blocking my vision."

"Blocking your Byakugan? What's causing that?"

"I'm not sure. It could possibly be the fire."

Shikamaru analyzed the information for a quick moment. " _If it's blocking the Byakugan, then that means Neji won't be any help either. We don't really need Kiba's sense of smell because we know where our objective is. Shino can't help either because that would take to long for his insects to get to the Hokage building and back to us. They could also possibly be burned by the fire..._ " A lightbulb went off into Shikamaru's head. "Zero! What about you? You said you had enhanced senses."

Zero followed instructions and put up his customary hand sign. "I'll enhance my hearing, and maybe I can pick up on a conversation inside of the building."

"Can you relay us any dialogue?"

"I'll try to. Just make sure not to talk or it'll hurt my ears."

Zero's sense of hearing had increasing tremendously. He could now hear conversations from across the village. They were mainly just people worrying about the Hokage building. Zero now focused a little bit of his chakra towards his eyes, making the terrain change to a light blue area. With that, he focused towards the Hokage building, and could now see what was inside of it. As Hinata said, Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune, were both talking, Tsunade being hurt and crouching to the ground. Shizune looked like she was trying to help her.

"Lady Tsunade, are you okay?" Shizune asked the damaged Hokage.

Tsunade had trouble saying anything, as the wind was knocked out of her. "We need...to...get out of here..." Tsunade wheezed.

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere." A voice spoke, coming out of a barrier of smoke. Zero could not manage to see what the person looked like, but could see the color of his chakra, meaning blue. His voice sounded ominous, similar to that of an anonymous entity with a deep throat.

"Who are you?" Shizune questioned. "Show yourself!"

The voice laughed with its deep throat. "I think not. Hand me the Aura Gem and I won't kill you nor destroy this village."

"Lady Tsunade would never hand anything to the likes of you!" Shizune declared, looking back at Tsunade. To her surprise, Tsunade was reaching into the inside pocket of her green jacket, and pulled out a large blue gem. "Lady Tsunade! What are you doing?!"

"Please be quiet, Shizune." Tsunade requested. "If he does not harm the village, then I will give him whatever he needs to get the hell out."

Shizune was startled at the approach the Hokage did to protect the village. "Yes, Lady Tsunade." She muttered. Tsunade got up and delivered the gem to the voice. However, since she did could not see this voice, she still placed the blue gem on the floor in front of the smoke. Within a flash, the gem disappeared.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Lady Hokage. We will put this to good use." The voice started to laugh menacingly as the smoke started to dissipate. "Very good use..."

Zero released his Z-vision because of the pain that was starting to occur in his head. "Damn..." He groaned as he grabbed his head. The others looked towards him in worry. Ino rushed over to his aid to make sure nothing painful was happening to him and quickly used her medical ninjutsu to start healing his head.

"That's all?" Shikamaru asked. "The anonymous person just disappeared?"

"I think so." Zero inferred as the pain in his head was starting to go away thanks to Ino's healing.

Naruto looked at the ground with anger. "Why would Grandma Tsunade give up whatever that gem was so easily?" He punched a nearby tree, creating a large crack in it. His anger was clearly building up due to the Hokage's acts.

"She said that she wanted to protect the village." Sakura stated. "That's all we can infer until we go speak to her."

"Then let's go!" Naruto said as he ran towards the Hokage's building, forcing the others to follow. Ino stopped healing Zero and chased after the shinobi.

Hinata walked up to Zero, who was slowly getting up from the ground. "Are you okay, Zero?" She asked, quietly.

"Yeah, I'm good." Zero replied. "You're Byakugan really couldn't work around that fire?"

Hinata shook her head. "No."

"Well, whatever's happening, we should probably head over to the Hokage's building and see what's up."

"Mhm..."

Zero and Hinata both jumped onto the building nearest to them, and sprinted toward the argument that was about to occur between Naruto and the Hokage.

* * *

Hinata and Zero had arrived slowly after the other members of the Konoha Eleven, who were in a small crowd in the front of the Hokage building. Guards were spraying their Water style onto the fire to weaken its effects. It seems as though Naruto was yelling at someone, but not directed towards the Hokage.

"I want to go after him. I want to go after this person who took the gem!" Naruto proclaimed. "He will not disrespect the Hidden Leaf! And Grandma Tsunade, why did give the gem to him in the first place?" Tsunade's eyebrows were slowly starting to straighten, meaning that she was getting a little angry. "I want to go after whatever this man is doing and STOP him-"

" **BE QUIET NARUTO!** " Tsunade boomed. Naruto' she expression had changed into a frightened expression as he started to back off a little. "I will send you on this mission, do not worry. However, the **ONLY** reason I gave the Aura Gem to him was to prevent the village from being destroyed.

Shizune spoke up. "W-Who else will be sent on this mission Lady Tsunade?"

"I will decide as soon as I get back up to my office. You are all dismissed and will wait for further notice."

The Konoha Eleven followed instructions and sprinted off away from the Hokage building. Before Zero could leave, Tsunade stopped him. "Zero!"

"Y-Yes Lady Tsunade?" Zero stuttered and turned around towards the Hokage.

"I realize that you do not have any sort of weapon, correct?" Tsunade hypothesized, making Zero nod quickly. "And, you also stated that you only know one jutsu. Very well then. Shizune, please let him select a weapon from our ANBU armory."

Hinata's eyes widened as if she had an idea. " _I didn't contribute much to that weapon holder that we gave Zero...maybe I could give him some sort of weapon as a present! He has been a good friend to me these past few days..._ " She thought, starting to walk away from the small group.

Zero noticed Hinata was leaving the area. "Where are you going, Hinata?" Zero asked the shy girl that was walking away.

"I have to go buy something real quick!" She exclaimed, again with a rather quiet voice. "I'll meet you at the Hyuga household." Hinata had now disappeared from the area when she went around a corner.

Shizune was currently biting a piece of skin off her thumb to release blood. She grabbed a piece of paper with strange letters inscribed onto it, and put it on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Shizune said as she threw her hand against the ground, creating some sort of black chalky lettering around him. The jutsu Shizune performed summoned some sort of smoke around her. When the smoke dissipated, Shizune was holding a large scroll that was clearly filled with items due to the common bulges around it. She handed it to Tsunade.

"Why do I need a weapon exactly?" Zero asked.

Tsunade took the scroll and started to lay it on the ground. "You don't have to, it's just that we believed you should use one since you don't know much jutsu." The scroll was now fully opened, and the weapon selection was now revealed. Inside the scroll, there were different swords, a package of kunai, staffs, and even a grappling hook. "Take your pick."

Zero was looking through the assortment of weapons, but nothing seemed to appeal to him. He liked how one of the swords looked, but it seemed a little too big and could be too much to carry. One of the staffs had a dragon on it, but Zero disliked it because it was light green, and Zero didn't like that color too much. "Uhhh..." He said trying to think of one. "Is it okay, Lady Tsunade, if I pick a weapon tomorrow?"

"Yes," Tsunade answered, beginning to roll the ANBU armory back up in the scroll. "Just come back to the Hokage building before noon."

"Got it!" Zero exclaimed as he began to run away from the scene. "Later!"

Tsunade stared at the young man running away from them. For about an instant, a flash of young Naruto came about, but disappeared in an instant. "Huh..." She said.

"Is there something wrong, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked.

"No..." Tsunade replied. "But that Zero feels a lot like Naruto..."

* * *

Regardless of what time it was, the Hidden Leaf village was still blooming with lights in almost every part of the village. Stores were constantly open no matter the time of day or night. One apparent road near the east of the Hokage building was engulfed in red and white lights, many people seemed to be trading items and such.

Hinata was walking down that road. She knew exactly where to go, because Tenten had introduced her to this store when the five Kage's were discussing about the next war at the Summit. " _I wonder how Naruto will feel when he finds out about the war..._ " Hinata thought as she walked down the road. " _Zero doesn't know about it either. I wonder why..._ "

The store had appeared on her right. Hinata entered it by pushing the small beaded curtain and was now inside of the store. Around her, countless weapons were displayed for the customers. Broad swords, katanas, kunai, the list kept going on. There were no customers around the store, and the cashier was taking a nap behind the desk.

Hinata walked around to see what she could buy with the money she had. Her wallet consisted of two-hundred yen, luckily enough she had found some under her bed by Hanabi pretending to be some sort of present fairy back at the Hyuga household a few weeks back. " _It seems as though Hanabi's games actually helped me..._ " Hinata thought, remembering that certain memory. While daydreaming, Hinata didn't even notice that there was a large tripwire in front of her, and tripped over it when activated some sort of trap door. "Ahh!" Hinata yelled out while she fell down the trapdoor into complete darkness.

Luckily enough, Naruto was taking a stroll and happened to be outside the weapon store at the time. "Huh?" He said when he heard the yell coming from inside the store. "That sounds like Hinata..." Naruto ran into the store as fast as he could. "Hinata!" He called out. Naruto eventually came up to the trap door when finding his way around the store.

A quiet voice came from the darkness at the bottom of the hole. "N...Naruto?" Hinata's voice seemed to stutter even when she wasn't looking at him, nonetheless she memorized Naruto's voice.

"I'm coming down, Hinata! Look out!" Naruto claimed, jumping down into the hole. It was rather a far drop, but regardless he knew that it wouldn't kill him if Hinata was able to fall down and didn't sound hurt at all. Darkness was engulfing Naruto as he began to sink farther and farther down the hole.

Naruto felt a cushion being pushed against his body, realizing that some sort of large, fluffy object stopped the impact between himself and the ground. "Oof!" He emphasized the impact of the two objects. Naruto quickly disregarded the cushion that he landed up and got up easily. "Hinata! Are you okay?" He questioned. To his surprise, Hinata was staring at some sort of item on the other side of the room. "Hinata?" Naruto asked once again before walking up to the shy girl.

Hinata was looking at some sort of weapon on a mantle. She finally noticed Naruto walking up to her side, and her timid nature returned. "N-Naruto..." Hinata stuttered as she looked away with her cheeks turning bright red. " _He's so close to me..._ " Hinata thought.

"What are you doing down here anyways?" Naruto asked.

Hinata analyzed the question. "I was..." She couldn't really think of a response. Hinata decided to tell the truth a little. "Getting a weapon for Zero."

"A weapon, huh?" Naruto asked. "Didn't we already get him a present though? The weapon holder?"

"Y-Yes but I wanted to give him s-something else to welcome him to our village."

Naruto looked at Hinata. "You two have really seemed to become friends, huh?" He asked her. "In this short amount of time too..."

"Yes, we d-did." Hinata replied to with truth as her mindset.

The two stood in silence for a moment before Naruto spoke up. "So what's this anyways?" Naruto asked, pointing at the weapon before them.

"I'm not sure...when you fell down here, it was the first thing I saw."

Naruto laughed a little. "Well, maybe this should be Zero's gift!" He suggested.

Hinata looked up at the young hero. "That might be a good idea, however we don't even know who this weapon belongs to."

"Bah! Who cares?" Naruto exclaimed. "Come on, this place is a little old anyways. I'm sure no one would care." Naruto walked up to the mantle and took it off of its respected holder. "See? Nothing to worry about." Naruto explained with a little laugh.

Hinata couldn't help but chuckle a little at Naruto's courage. "I guess you're right."

A lightbulb appeared in Naruto's mind. "Hey, how about we make this our gift? We can even write our names on it to show our new friendship with Zero!" Naruto began to pull a small, pointed rock out of his jumpsuit and began to write his name on the weapon.

"Mhm." Hinata confirmed, agreeing to the statement. She still was blushing a little, due to the fact that they were writing their names next to each other.

"There!" Naruto said as he confirmed that his name was on the weapon. "Here you go, Hinata." He slowly handed her the rock to write her name on it. She accepted it and began to write on the weapon.

Hinata didn't want to write as close to it and thought it was a little strange writing her name right next to Naruto's. In this case, she put the tiniest of space in between to make it so. "Okay, done."

"Nice! Alright, let's get out of here," Naruto claimed, looking around. "There! Look, a ladder leading all the way up to another trap door." He pointed at exactly what he saw and explained it. A large wooden ladder was leading up to a trap door with light peaking out of it. "Let's go, Hinata."

"Y-Yes." Hinata replied. The two continued up the ladder and out of the basement.

* * *

Back at the Hyuga household, Zero was entering Hinata's room to take a good night's rest. "Man, this day went by pretty fast." He whispered to himself. "It's strange seeing as though I woke up only a few hours ago. Even then, I'm still a bit tired for some reason."

Hinata's room was the same as before, with the said person sleeping on her bed, and the blanket that Zero had used was still in the same corner. However, there happened to be an item next to the blanket where he was suppose to rest. It was a weapon, and on the large handle of said weapon, two names were inscribed into the wood. They read "NARUTO", and a little bit to the right read the name "HINATA". Zero couldn't help but smile at the present they had given him.

"You know, I've always wanted a scythe."

* * *

 **And that, ladies and gentleman, is Chapter 8 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf!" 3,000 words, wow. You guys can tell at the sped though that I sped the part with Naruto and Hinata a little. I was trying to get this chapter out as soon as possible, due to the weekend break.**

 **Regardless, remember to review/favorite/follow this story if you liked this chapter!**

 **Chapter 9 will be out soon. This is AM, signing off.**


	10. Departure

**Hello everybody, welcome to Chapter 9 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! I hope you all enjoyed last chapter, as it was over 3,000 words long. Now that we're in Chapter 9, the journey is going to begin.**

 **If you like this chapter, make sure to review/favorite/follow this story if you have a Fanfiction account. You can review this story regardless if you have an account or not at the bottom of the page.**

 **Also, check out my Naruto Amino page. I post daily updates on there now instead of Tumblr. Username: "Zer0Insanity" I'll also be holding some sort of contest, well it really isn't a contest, on my Naruto Amino page. I'll be asking the readers and followers of my page to come up with characters for the next story after I'm finished with this chapter. Remember, character submissions will ONLY be accepted on my NARUTO AMINO PAGE.**

 **So anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter 9!**

* * *

The light managed to make its way through the window of Hinata's room. Birds were chirping through the morning day, with the sun slowly ascending over the horizon.

Hinata was still asleep in her bed back in the room. The sound of a foot pressing against the ceiling above her woke her up from her night's rest. "Huh?" She asked herself, quietly. Hinata got up off her bed and looked over at the corner where Zero normally is resting. The scythe that Naruto and her had given him was still there, but Zero wasn't resting in his spot. "Where did he go?" Hinata questioned herself to where her new friend was.

"I'm up here." Zero replied from above the room, past the ceiling.

The shy Hyuga girl looked up in confusion. " _I whispered that...how is he able to hear me through the wall?_ " Hinata thought to herself.

The window had opened to Hinata's room, and Zero whisked himself back into the room by grabbing the top of the window. "Thank you guys, for giving me the scythe."

"You're welcome." Hinata said with a smile.

"How did you manage to buy it anyways?" Zero asked. "It looks like it cost a lot of yen."

Hinata chuckled a little with blush appearing on her face, thinking of the yellow-haired hero that insisted on them giving it to Zero as a gift. "Naruto said that we should take it, we found it in some small basement below a store." Hinata explained. "The cashier didn't seem to have a problem with it..."

"Oh, wow." Zero acknowledged with a little bit of awe. "So it cost you guys nothing?"

"Yes." Hinata replied.

Zero looked up at Hinata and back at the scythe. "Well it sure as hell is an amazing gift." Zero commented. This made Hinata chuckle. "Maybe it could fit with-"

At this moment, a knock came from the door of Hinata's room. Since Zero was closer to the door, he went to go open it. Tsunade appeared in the doorway once it was opened, with Shizune behind her. "Zero. Hinata. Come with me, please."

"Uh, sure." Zero replied, looking back and motioning Hinata to come with him. "What's up?"

"Do you remember that mission that I was talking about last night?" Tsunade asked the two, getting a nod from both of them. "Well, I want you two to go with Naruto on this mission, along with Ino and Kiba."

Hinata was grabbing her backpack that was lying under her bed. "Zero, do you need to take anything?"

Tsunade asked Zero something before he could reply to Hinata's question. "What is that, Zero?"

"Oh, this is the weapon I've decided to use. Hinata and Naruto gave it to me as a gift." Zero replied, looking back at the scythe next to his bed.

"Oh. I see." Tsunade analyzed. "Oh, and here you go." Shizune handed Tsunade some sort of small pack of clothes. Both of the torso and pants were both black. "This is your uniform that Kakashi picked out for you before he went on his mission. I suspect that your current clothing is a bit dirty?" Zero nodded his head yo confirm that it was in fact, dirty. "Well, here you go, if you would like to change clothes." Tsunade handed Zero the new ninja clothes. "Well, Naruto, Ino, and Kiba and I will be waiting by the main gate at the edge of the village. We expect to see you there in no less than twenty minutes." Tsunade closed the door of Hinata's room.

Zero sighed at the thought of a mission. The thought of Hinata and Naruto coming along with him returned a smile to his face. "Well, looks like this is our first mission, you and I!" Zero exclaimed.

"Yes it will." Hinata said, giving a smile. "You should probably put on your ninja uniform, however." She suggested.

"Yeah...I guess." Zero said. "I know this is your room, but could you stand outside for a moment while I put this on?"

"Yes, of course!" Hinata chuckled a little before going to the door and leaving the room.

Zero looked back at the clothes after Hinata left the room. "Huh..." Zero asked himself as he realized something about the clothes that Tsunade gave him that were now on Hinata's bed. " _This looks kinda like what Kakashi was wearing...but why is it black?_ " He thought. Regardless, he took of his current raggedy clothes and threw them out of the window next to Hinata's bed. "Won't really need these anymore, maybe someone else will find them." Zero grabbed the clothes of Hinata's bed and put them on. For some reason, they fit him perfectly when they were on. "That's a little strange..." Zero commented on the clothes size. What was strange about the pants of the clothes was that of they looked a little like Rock Lee's jumpsuit, except it was dark gray. Everything else was black.

When his jumpsuit was finally on, Zero felt like he could move very freely. The jacket looked a little flat but was easily bendable. " _Fits pretty nice...it's also light._ " Zero thought, grabbing the weapon holder that the group had given him yesterday and putting it in one of his pockets. He stretched a little bit more before walking towards the door. The door opened with ease, and when he was outside, Hinata was standing about five feet from the door, waiting for him.

"Does it fit alright?" Hinata asked Zero about his new ninja clothing.

Zero stretched some more before answering. "Yeah, fits a little nice."

"Good!" Hinata exclaimed with her casual shy girl voice. "We should better get going to the main gate."

"Hey wait, I want to see if my scythe fits in the weapon holder you guys gave me yesterday." Zero said, pulling out the weapon holder. "Could you, uh, see if this attaches to the back of my ninja uniform?"

"Sure!" Hinata said with a smile. Zero gave her the weapon holder and then turned around. Hinata looked for a place where the weapon holder could attach, and eventually finding a small patch that had sort of two creases in it that fit the weapon holder's attachment spot. The weapon holder slid in the two creases with ease and made some sort of locking noise showing Hinata that it was in place. "There you go."

"Thanks, Hinata." Zero thanked her. She replied with a simple nod and a smile. "Did Kakashi know about the weapon holder?"

"I don't think so." Hinata answered.

"Well, isn't it a bit strange how he knew exactly what size it was to fit my ninja uniform?"

"Yes...that is a little strange. It must've been a coincidence, though."

"Yeah, I guess." Zero looked down at his clothes. "Alright, time to try this thing out." Zero went back into Hinata's room and came back out a few seconds later holding the long scythe that Naruto and her had given him the night before. Zero lifted the scythe up and swung it around his back. Hinata was next to him, but far enough to where the scythe wouldn't hit her. Zero slid the scythe and found the weapon holder that was attached to his back. The wood of the scythe seemed to be attracted to the holder and attached easily, creating a locking noise to show that it was in place. Zero took his hand off the scythe to see if it worked, in which it was in place. "Nice, it works."

"How does it feel?" Hinata asked.

"The scythe's a little heavy, but I'll get used to it and it shouldn't be a problem." Zero replied.

"Good!" Hinata grew a happy expression. "Well, we should probably get going to the main gate."

"Yeah, let's get going."

* * *

The town was going through a normal day, the merchants buying the items of stores in Konoha, and the children were running around with each other playing "Ninja". The sun was beaming down onto the village, regardless of the fact that it was autumn this time of year.

Zero and Hinata were almost at the main gate of the village. They were casually walking towards the gate while Hinata introduced Zero to other parts of the village that were being made. Zero learned mainly about Ichiraku's Ramen, which was apparently Naruto and Hinata's favorite place to eat. A couple other of their friends liked to eat there too, it was mainly like a gathering place at times.

" **HINATA! ZERO! COME ON!** " Naruto yelled from the main gate, which was not very far from Zero and Hinata's current location.

" _N-Naruto is going to be g-going with us?_ " Hinata thought of the yellow-haired hero. She had completely forgotten about what Tsunade had told them the night before about the mission. Hinata started to blush at the sight of Naruto.

The two had quickly rushed to the gate to make sure they weren't late. The people that apparently were waiting for them were Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru and Ino. Naruto was still waving to them until they got into close proximity.

"Sorry guys, we were held up by something at the Hyuga household." Zero informed. "We're not late though, are we?" Zero asked as he looked around to make sure there was no one else coming. Five other people didn't trigger his anxiety, but any higher than eight usually would. Hinata didn't technically count though, since they were both good friends now.

"No, you're not." Ino assured. "At least you're not like Naruto, who is usually late."

"So what?" Naruto asked. "At least I'm not late for this one."

Shikamaru coughed to get the group's attention. "Everybody, listen up." The group looked towards him. "I've got clear instructions from Lady Tsunade. That trail over there?" Shikamaru pointed at a small trail made of burnt grass. "We apparently need to follow that to get to our destination. Kiba, since you have Akamaru and yourself, can you make sure to follow the scent just in case this trail starts to become a decoy and pans off into two directions?"

"Got it!" Kiba claimed. "Akamaru, get a hold of that scent." Akamaru barked and continued over to the burnt trail. His nose twitched for a second before looking up to the air. Akamaru finally got a hold of the scent, and barked once again to assure the group that he picked up the scent. "I think he's got it." Kiba confirmed, starting to follow his dog.

"Okay, let's get going. Ino, get your medical ninjutsu ready in case we get ambushed." Shikamaru said.

"Okay!" Ino exclaimed as she went to go follow Kiba.

"Naruto, you're probably one of the strongest ones here at the moment. You've got our backs, right?"

"Yes sir!" Naruto made a fake salute and ran over to the others.

"Zero, get your Z-vision out and see if you can hear anything in case of rogue shinobi trying to ambush anything. Hinata, when he hears something, use your Byakugan and see if anyone is around us,"

"Alright!" Zero and Hinata said in sync. Shikamaru started to walk back towards the group, with Zero and Hinata following behind him.

The group eventually were all together now, following the trail and departing from the Hidden Leaf village. They all hoped that this trail would lead to wherever the anonymous enemy was.

* * *

 **And that's Chapter 9 of "Naruto Shippuden Zero: A New Leaf"! I hope you all enjoyed, and make sure to review/favorite/follow if you liked this chapter and want to keep up with the story.**

 **Also, about the character creation thing on my Naruto Amino page, (Zer0Insanity) I will be doing it later today.**

 **Chapter 10 will be out by Monday or Tuesday. This is AM, signing off.**


	11. A Weapon's Power

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 10 of Season 1 of "Shippuden Zero"! Yes, I did a few editing with the name and stuff, and I'll be implementing spacers, which are chapters that separate every story with things saying "SEASON 1" or "Epilogue" or things like that. I put a poll on my Naruto Amino page, and it seems that the majority of you so far would like to have every story of Zero, Hinata, and Naruto in one huge book, instead of separate books which is was I was originally going to do. Regardless, I'll be implementing the spacers shortly after I'm finished with this chapter.**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow this story if you liked it! Enjoy!**

* * *

After about thirty minutes of following Akamaru while he was sniffing the trail out, the group of ninja had come across a detour, which is what Shikamaru had predicted. "See? I told you guys whoever this person was would leave something behind. The trail ends here."

"Relax, Shikamaru." Kiba requested. "Akamaru can just sniff out the right scent." Directly after what Kiba said, Akamaru had lifted his nose up in the air, trying to get a hold of the scent. "What's wrong, boy?" The dog whimpered after Kiba's question. "Hmph. Looks like he lost the scent."

"Well, seems like whoever this guy is definitely smart." Naruto confirmed.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and tilted his head over to look at Hinata. "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to see if you can find a traces of anything?"

"Sure..." Hinata whispered. " _Byakugan!_ " She thought, strengthening her vision and the veins around it, giving her the ability to see three-hundred and sixty degrees again. Nothing was around her, just the chakra around the four people next to her. "I don't see anything."

Shikamaru had looked up at the sky. "Ugh...this is a drag." He threw his arms up in the air. "Zero, you're the last one with the ability to enhance senses. Try to see if you can get something out of this."

Zero nodded. "Let's see..." The chakra in his head was starting to focus again, giving him the Z-vision. He focused it on his eyes this time, to see if there was anything left behind.

Suddenly, a large impulse erupted in Zero's mind, sending pain to his eyes and his head. "Agh!" He cried out in pain. It felt as though his eyes were burning off and his body was engulfed in lava. Zero tried to remove the chakra that he was using to remove the Z-vision. Despite all his efforts, the Z-vision was not going away. His vision was still producing the Z-vision and giving him the sight enhancement. The others quickly paid attention to him.

"Zero?" Ino questioned. "Are you alright?" She hustled over to Zero and started to use her medical ninjutsu since he was in pain. "Oh...what's happening with..."

"What is it, Ino?" Shikamaru asked. "Is Zero okay?"

"His weapon...it's lighting up!"

The other four pairs of eyes widened in astonishment. It was true, the scythe on Zero's back was starting to turn white, as if it was reacting to the Z-vision.

The pain was slowly lessening the more Zero was using his Z-vision. The vision wasn't going away though, only the pain. Zero had his eyes closed because he was clenching them together because of the decreasing pain. As strange as it is, Zero didn't feel Ino's medical ninjutsu at all, so obviously she wasn't the one who was lessening the pain. When the pain had almost subsided, Zero's eyes had opened. He was completely surprised at what he could see. Not only was his Z-vision locating chakra points now, but for some reason when he looked at the other members of their team around him, he could see small red points around each of their bodies. There were also small scatters of yellow light on the ground, as if it was indicating some sort of trail.

"Are you alright, Zero?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah..." Zero answered. "I think I saw something though."

"Did it have anything to do with the trail?" Shikamaru questioned, paying close attention to the mission at hand.

"Yes," Zero pointed off towards the direction that the scratch marks he had seen in his Z-vision were leading to. "I'm pretty sure I saw something over there."

"Alright Akamaru. Over there!" Kiba directed his dog towards the area that Zero was pointing to. Akamaru followed his trainers instructions and ran over to the area. The rest of the group followed behind the dog. Surely enough, Akamaru had lifted his nose up again and started to lower it towards the ground. He barked in confirmation that he had picked up the scent again. "Nice, he found it. Let's keep going."

The six ninja, along with their ninja hound, had continued towards the scent for the next hour. It seems that without Sai, the trip would take longer. Although the trail was gone, the scent luckily could be tracked by Akamaru's nose.

Naruto had looked around at the other members of his group. Shikamaru was explaining the plan for the night to Kiba, as the sun was starting to descend over the opposite end of the horizon it had risen. Zero and Ino were talking for some reason, apparently their conversation was a little quiet. Naruto could point out though that they were talking about Shikamaru and Choji, so Ino must've been explaining to Zero about Team 10. " _Wasn't there another person here...?_ " Naruto thought. He looked to his right, and to his surprise, Hinata was walking next to him. "Oh, hey Hinata."

Hinata's eyes widened at her crush's remark. "Hi...Naruto." She whispered. "How are you?"

"I'm alright, you?"

"I'm okay as well."

Naruto looked off towards Zero for a moment. He remembered what he saw the night before the dinner they all had.q Naruto was watching Hinata train Zero that night. "You know, it's pretty cool how Zero was able to learn that technique from you."

"W-what?" Hinata gasped. "How did you know I did that?"

A laugh escaped from Naruto's mouth. "I saw you guy's training before Neji got there. He didn't really care that I was there to be completely honest with you."

"Oh..."

"I was actually thinking about doing that too." Naruto explained. "To teach Zero the Rasengan while we're here."

"You're going to teach him that? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course. Zero only knows taijutsu, and he's not as powerful as you are." Naruto looked down at Hinata, who was a few inches shorter than him. He completely ignored the fact that Hinata was blushing, due to his naive nature.

"That's a very good idea, Na-"

Hinata was interrupted by Shikamaru. She was always interrupted by people that spoke in a louder tone than her, but she didn't really mind it. "Guys, looks like the sun is almost set." Shikamaru explained, pointing to the sun that was halfway peaking above to horizon, descending inch by inch as the time passed, "Let's call it a day."

* * *

About an hour after the group set up their sleeping bags, they started to create a fire. Since none of them had Fire chakra nature, they couldn't create it instantly. Shikamaru had decided to offer Zero a break because of the incident with his Z-vision a few hours before. Zero politely accepted the offer and went to lay down on his sleeping bag that Ino had given him, propping his scythe next to the tree. The others had started to gather sticks around the area for the fire. Shikamaru informed them about giving Zero a break so that they didn't scold him for "being lazy". " _It's pretty cool how these guys are so organized. A lot of them seem to be so different._ " Zero thought as he closed his eyes and crossed his hands behind his head on the tree he was laying against. " _Maybe I should go get them a small gift back, just a thank you for being nice to me._ " Zero took the kunai out of his flak jacket's pocket and twirled it around, debating the idea for a moment.

Zero decided to act on his decision and got up from his sleeping bag. He crept over behind the tree so that the others didn't notice that he was gone. Once the shadows had engulfed him behind the tree, Zero picked up his pace and started to jog off towards the darkness. He activated his Z-vision, and focused his chakra on his eyes. Zero completely ignored what happened earlier, and despite those thoughts, nothing bad happened when he activated his Z-vision. The area around him was now light blue, giving him the ability to see in the dark. The forest seemed to just be trees, but eventually Zero saw a river to his left whilst walking through. Zero released his Z-vision and started to walk over to the pond, because the moon was giving light that reflected over the river. Zero knew where he was going, and folded up his leggings and took off his shoes.

The water had average temperature to it. " _This isn't cold...?_ " Zero thought. He could feel the presence of fish swimming around in the water under him. " _Regardless, let's get started. I need to get seven fish, one for each of us, including Akamaru."_ Zero thought as he began to activate his Z-vision once more and pulling out his kunai. " _I should probably practice on my hearing. Maybe I can improve this way._ " Zero inferred, focusing his chakra towards his ears. When activated, Zero could hear small ringing in both of his ears, but they didn't cause any pain. He ignored the ringing and focused on the movement of the fish, reacting to one small splash and piercing a fish with the kunai in his hand.

Back at the campsite, Hinata was gathering the last stick from the small pile to be put for the fire. " _Well, that took longer than expected._ " She thought. It was strange, Hinata could even tell that her own thoughts seemed like a whisper.

When Hinata stood up from grabbing the last stick off the ground, she looked over at the campsite, and her eyes crossed Zero's sleeping bag next to a tree. However, Zero was not in the sleeping bag, and only his scythe was propped up next to the tree. " _Where is Zero?_ " Hinata thought. She walked over to the empty sleeping bag to examine if he left anything behind. Before doing so, Hinata placed her sticks into the pile that was going to be used for the fire.

Something caught her eye when she walked over to the deserted sleeping bag. A small streak of light was forming on the blade of Zero's scythe, so she couldn't help but take a look over at it. " _I hope the others don't see me inspecting this..._ " Hinata thought, taking a quick look over at the group. They were having a conversation about what they were going to do in the morning, and didn't pay attention to what Hinata was currently doing. " _They don't notice me, apparently._ " Hinata now focused back on the scythe. The light had formed some sort of word onto the blade, and Hinata could barely depict what it was forming though. With a few more seconds passing by, the light was forming a clear word that Hinata could easily tell what it said. The word was quite strange, and Hinata didn't know what it meant, all she could do was question it.

" _Ascension?_ "

* * *

 **That's Chapter 10 of "Shippuden Zero"! I hope you all enjoyed, and although it didn't really seem like much of an exciting chapter to me, it still had some suspense to what Zero's scythe just did.**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **Also, follow my Naruto Amino page, "Zer0Insanity". I am still holding the event for you guys to create characters for the next part of the story.**

 **Chapter 11 will be out later this week. This is AM, signing off.**


	12. New Techniques

**Hell everyone! Welcome back to "Shippuden Zero". Currently this is Chapter 11, and although it's the twelfth chapter, it still will be following as chapter 11 due to the spacing chapters I've made for the individual seasons.**

 **If you like that chapter after you're finished reading it, remember to leave a review/favorite/follow.**

 **With that, enjoy Chapter 11!**

* * *

Although each fish were relatively hard to catch even with Z-vision, Zero still managed to get seven of them. " _That didn't take so long..._ " Zero thought. It was true, the fish didn't really try to run away. In order to contain the fish, Zero grabbed a few branches from the side of the river and made them into a plate, putting the fish on it and starting back to the campsite. " _I haven't practiced the Protective Eight Trigrams in a bit. I should probably use it later in case anything happens tomorrow. I only know how to use it on one side though...maybe I can improve it a little._ "

Zero had returned to the campsite after a few minutes of walking. The group had finally set up the campfire, and it seemed that they were just talking to each other.

The first one to notice Zero's presence was Hinata, since she was staring off into the woods with her Byakugan. "Hi Zero." She whispered.

"What do you have in your hand, Zero?" Ino pointed to the plate of fish in his hand.

"Just some fish that I decided to catch." Zero replied.

"Oh, nice!" Kiba exclaimed. "You didn't forget Akamaru, right?"

"I didn't forget him. I've got seven fish here."

"That's very nice of you, Zero." Ino said. "Just put it onto the fire."

"Got it." Zero followed as he placed five sticks that were lying on the ground and connected four of them upward from around the fire. He then grabbed a flat stone from around the campfire and placed this fish on it. Naruto helped him out, connecting a few sticks to the four supporters. Zero now placed the fish onto the stove so that it would heat up. "There we go."

"That's nice of you, Zero. We didn't have any food to begin with..." Hinata whispered.

"No, we did. All we brought was Choji's food...and I'm pretty sure it's expired." Shikamaru explained.

Naruto created a small grin on his face. "Zero, while we're waiting...why don't you show us-"

Naruto's sentence was interrupted by Zero creating the signal for him to quiet down. Quickly, Zero activated his Z-vision and formed the chakra to his ears. An impulse in his body erupted, sending pain throughout Zero's head. Regardless, he was able to hear footsteps on the trees nearby the campfire. "Hinata, use your Byakugan..." Zero managed to command as he kneeled towards the ground. Ino quickly came over to him and started to use her medical ninjutsu again.

Hinata quickly used her Byakugan to find out what Zero was talking about. " _Five...no nine...why are there so many chakra systems in the trees..._ " Hinata thought. For some reason, her Byakugan went away a few seconds after she activated it. An impulse erupted in her head as well, causing a slight headache that was similar to Zero's. "We're getting ambushed!" Hinata informed.

"What?" Naruto questioned, quickly getting into his battle stance.

After a few seconds, Zero's Z-vision was now activated and he was able to stand up and move around again without any pain in his head. "An ambush?"

"That's smart to do it at night." Shikamaru analyzed. "They must've thought we weren't on our guard. Stick together guys!"

The six ninja and the ninja hound were backing up against each other. With Hinata's Byakugan being disabled, all they could do was protect all the areas that the ninja could ambush them from. They still said nothing, but Zero could hear their short breathes coming from hiding spots in the leaves.

All of the sudden, a figure charged from the top of one of the trees. The anonymous ninja brought out a huge scroll and started to twirl it around his body, similar to Tenten's technique. Smoke erupted from the where the ninja was, and the next thing the Hidden Leaf ninja knew was that there were at least a fifty different types of weapons flying towards them. Other ninja charged out from all different places, surrounding the group in a wave of ambushing ninja and weapons.

An idea popped into Zero's mind. "Naruto, before they attacked us, I could've finished your sentence for you."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked while charging up a Rasengan.

"I'll show you what I've learned from Hinata and I's training!" Zero exclaimed."Get down everyone!

What Zero did next was a repeat of what he had learned from Hinata. The group followed Zero's orders and crouched towards the , he focused his chakra to his hands and memorized the image he was suppose to conjure up. A large barrier had appeared on the front side of Zero's body, only protecting Naruto, Shikamaru, and himself. " _Come on...around my entire body..._ " Zero thought, focusing with extraordinary strength to surround the barrier around the entire team. His chakra was completely overheating, but Zero was able to start forming the other side of the barrier. The enemies were drawing closer and closer around the group, however Zero was faster. Within a few seconds, the barrier surrounded the entire group. Zero now knew that his Justus was ready. "Alright, I'm ready!"

"Do it, Zero!" Naruto shouted.

" **PROTECTIVE EIGHT TRIGRAMS, SIXTY-FOUR PALMS!** "

* * *

Ino's foot pushed a withered body away from her presence. "How did you do that, Zero?"

"Yeah, that was incredible." Shikamaru complimented. "You managed to master a move that we've only seen Hinata do? Not only that, you defeated all those Shinzo I that we're trying to attack us."

"The night that I came to the village, Hinata taught me it."

The group looked at the shy Hyuga girl with a slight smile on her face. Naruto wasn't really in that much awe since he already knew about it. "You taught him that, Hinata?" Ino asked.

"Yes...I did..." Hinata quietly replied. "He learned it very fast..."

"That's incredible!" Kiba exclaimed. "You should be glad Rock Lee doesn't know. He'd want to learn that technique in minutes, since Neji refused to show him the Gentle Fists technique."

Luckily, the fish wasn't touched at all after the short battle. Naruto grabbed one fish before splitting it in half and taking a bite out of one. "The fish is done, I think."

"Alright, team." Shikamaru commanded. "After we eat, we need to rest and restore our chakra for tomorrow. Who knows, that mysterious ninja might turn around and try to attack us at any time."

"Okay!" The group exclaimed in unison.

The group dispersed and started to eat the fish that Zero had caught, sitting down near the fire once again. Naruto looked over at Zero, remembering what he had just done. " _I feel connected to him for some reason...his mastery over jutsu was a little strange of how he could do it that fast. Isn't the Protective Eight Trigrams a family trait? Only for the Hyuga's?_ " Naruto thought, looking over at Hinata who was laughing next to Zero. " _They look like brother and sister...it's so strange..._ "

Hinata noticed that Naruto was looking at her and quickly looked away with red cheeks. " _Why is Naruto...looking at me?_ " Her timid personality was clearly getting the best of her, even at this moment.

" _Maybe I can teach both of them the Rasengan..._ " Naruto considered.

A few minutes later, the fish were all gone and the group thanked Zero for the fish he had caught once more. "Time to hit the hay." Kiba said as he slumped down into his sleeping bag and began to sleep right away, using Akamaru as a pillow. Ino, Shikamaru did the same.

Naruto released this was his chance. Hinata and Zero were beginning to go into their sleeping bags, and the others must've been so tired that they were already asleep. Naruto walked over to the two and made sure to keep his voice low. "Hey, guys."

Hinata blushed once more and looked at Naruto. Zero noticed that and couldn't help but form a grin on the shyness she had around Naruto. "What's up, Naruto?" Zero asked.

"I was just wondering if you two wanted to learn a jutsu from me."

"You mean...the Rasengan?" Hinata questioned, remembering the conversation that she and Naruto had a few hours before.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "I was originally going to teach only Zero it, but I released that I should probably teach it to Hinata as well."

"Ra-sengan?" Zero tried to sound out the word. "What's that?"

"It's a ninjutsu move I learned from my master. It's pretty strong."

Hinata looked over at the three others that were sleeping. "I've never really used ninjutsu before...not that I remember..."

"Yeah, me either."

"Well looks like this is your first one then." Naruto smiled. "Come on, let's get a little far away so the others won't hear us. The Rasengan does make a pretty loud noise." He started to walk to the right of Zero and Hinata, towards the trees which were shadowed by the border of light given off by the campfire. Zero nor Hinata couldn't resist learning their first ninjutsu move, so they followed Naruto beyond the darkness of the forest.

"This'll be exciting." Zero said. "Our first ninjutsu move...nice."

"Yes, it will be exciting." Hinata looked towards Naruto, who was continuing through the depths of the darkness. The moon was giving off enough light to see where they were going. "I'm so anxious...Naruto is going to teach me something..." The blush remains on her cheeks.

After a few minutes of following Naruto, the group of three arrived at some sort of small waterfall. "This looks far enough." Naruto confirmed. "Well, are you guys ready?"

Zero and Hinata both nodded in approval. "The waterfall will be blocking the noise so they can't hear us, right?" Zero asked.

"Hopefully."

"And this ninjutsu won't be as loud?"

"Not louder than the waterfall, no."

They stood in silence for a few minutes. "Okay, I think we should get started...Naruto..." Hinata whispered. Naruto was able to hear her though, despite the waterfall making so much noise.

"Alright, it's time for you both to learn the Rasengan!"

* * *

 **Very sorry about the shortness of this chapter and of how tardy it was to be released. I've been playing Naruto Shippuden Blazing the past weekend, and I'm a bit addicted to it. Regardless, I'm going to try to release two more chapters this week.**

 **Remember to review/follow/favorite the story if you liked it!**

 **Follow my Naruto Amino page (Zer0Insanity) to get updates on new chapters and events I'll be holding for the story.**

 **Chapter 12 will be out hopefully before Wednesday. This is AM, signing off.**


	13. Battle! Fusada and Puraka!

**Hello everybody, welcome to Chapter 12 of "Shippuden Zero"! Last chapter seemed to get a lot of views for the entire story, so I can't wait to hit 1k.**

 **Remember to review/follow/favorite the story if you like it so far.**

 **Mindaflyer: Thank you! I've tried to make sure that Zero didn't start too OP. What I mean by this is, giving him some sort of Ultimate Amaterasu Rasen Shuriken or something like that.**

 **NOTICE:** **I'm going to skip the part with Zero and Hinata learning the Rasengan because I would like to continue with the story. To be fair, it only showed one clip of Naruto teaching Konohamaru the Rasengan in the anime, so I'll probably do the same some time in the future. Just remember that the current period is after Zero and Hinata still have to practice the Rasengan.**

 **With that, enjoy Chapter 12!**

* * *

Clouds were slowly surrounding the morning sky with their enormous body, making the day a little dim. The day looked a little sad, as if portraying something bad was going to happen. A small crow flew across the abandoned campfire, somewhere off towards the woods.

Shikamaru was leading his six man and one ninja hound squad; Zero, Hinata, Naruto, Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, and of course himself. The scent could still be picked up by Akamaru's nose. " _This guy sure doesn't care about the tracks he leaves._ "

"How long is this going to take?" Ino complained. "We've been doing this for a while now..."

"Relax Ino. Akamaru is trying to make sure he stays with the scent." Kiba explained. "Besides...just enjoy the day."

"How am I suppose to do that when the sky is gray? It's actually getting a bit cold."

"Lighten up." Shikamaru said. "It's a drag, but sooner or later we'll get there. Hinata, see anything yet?"

The Byakugan was starting to fade on Hinata's eyes, as she was already using it before Shikamaru asked her. "Nothing yet."

"Well, the scent is still there, so we should be there sooner or later." Shikamaru inferred.

Out of the ordinary, a large burst of light shot towards the sky in front of them. The light was creating some sort of beacon that was shooting off towards the center of the sky. The light faded after a few seconds of showing itself.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked.

"Looks like we found where this person is." Shikamaru said. "Twelve o'clock everyone, move out!"

The group ran towards where the beam of light had shot upward. The area must've not been far, as the area seemed to be closer than expected.

"Shikamaru!" Zero shouted over the rampage of their feet when running. Shikamaru looked over to him in question. "Shouldn't we take the trees? We might as well take these guys by surprise.

"Good idea! Get to the trees, everyone." Shikamaru confirmed as everybody followed instructions, leaping onto the trees above them and jumping branch from branch. It was definitely faster than running.

After about two minutes of running, the group had finally made it to the new destination. The trees started to disappear behind them and a large field came about. It was faint, but two tiny figures could be seen by the normal human eye across the field.

" _Byakugan!_ " Hinata thought, using her Byakugan to see what was going on. "There are two figures, and one of them is olding some sort of glowing jewel..."

"That's it! The jewel that Lady Tsunade was talking about." Shikamaru analyzed. "Zero, see if you can hear anything."

Already summoning his Z-vision, Zero focused the chakra to his ears and began to use the Z-vision. A small pain in his chest came about, but quickly fading away. It was as if the pain that Zero's scythe was starting to lesson the more and more he used it. However, Zero still crouched down farther to see if that could lesson the current pain in his chest.

Hinata quickly released her Byakugan when Zero was brought the pain. "Ascension..." She whispered. "Is causing this?"

Naruto was close enough to Hinata to hear what she whispered. "Ascension? What's that?" He asked. The whole group had looked over to see what Hinata was talking about. Zero was still focusing the chakra to his ears, and while in this stage, he was partially deaf. All he could hear was the pulses in his chest, and couldn't hear what the conversation the others were having.

"That's the name of Zero's weapon. Ascension." Hinata explained.

"How do you know that?" Kiba asked.

"Look at the metal area on his scythe." Hinata pointed to the top of the scythe, where small streaks of light were forming the word 'ASCENSION' on his scythe. In the oddest moments, Naruto brushed up against Hinata when he was trying to leap onto a branch closer to Zero to see what was going on with his scythe, causing her to blush again.

"You're right, Hinata." Naruto confirmed while inspecting Ascension.

"Everybody, focus on the mission!" Shikamaru said. At this moment, Zero's pain was completely gone, and he focused his Z-vision back on the two people on the field. Hinata did the same, summoning her Byakugan again. Zero started to relay the conversation to the entire group now from what he heard from two people in the field, as if it was a book.

"Puraka! Why must you always be so clumsy, and activate the Aura Jewel when we could possibly be being chased right now?" One figure scolded another, who's name was apparently Puraka.

"I'm very sorry, Fesada. It was completely my fault." The clumsy Puraka apologized to what looked like his master. Puraka looked short, sort of like a dwarf servant. Fesada was quite tall, from what Hinata told Zero.

"Ugh..." Fesada groaned, putting his hand on his face and dragging it down. "Let's just keep going." The two unknown ninja started to walk off further into the field. "We do not want Lord Ifisiki to scold us if we're late."

"Yes, Fesada. He can get quite angry at times." Puraka slithered. "Maybe if we're early, he'll give us a present."

"A good one, I hope." Fesada laughed evilly.

Zero Released his Z-vision the same time Hinata released her Byakugan. "That was one strange conversation." Zero said.

"Yes, it was," Shikamaru said. "However, let's keep going after them, before they get to this so called 'Lord Ifisiki'. And remember, since this is a field with no trees, we will be unable to catch them by surprise. Get ready for a fight."

"Right!" The rest of the group replied. They jumped off the branches they were on and started to run after the two anonymous ninja that were scurrying off in the unknown direction.

* * *

The location of Fusada and Puraka was coming up close. The ninja group behind them were quickly running closer and closer.

"Fusada," Puraka said the taller ninja's name. "I think there are humans nearby..."

At that instance, the six ninja and their ninja hound sprouted towards Fusada and Puraka. The anonymous ninja turned around after the sound of shouting came from behind them. Both of them were surprised to see six Naruto clones heading in their direction from above. Without hesitation, the Naruto's brought out their kunai while falling down towards Fusada and Puraka, ready to attack. Fusada tackled Puraka to get both of them out of the range of the Naruto's. "Lapis Controlling Jutsu!" Fusada yelled. Once Puraka was out of the way, Fusada put together a hand sign and began to use a jutsu. The six clones hit each other with their kunai because of the jutsu Fusada was using, causing them to easily blow up into smoke. The clones had disappeared.

"Hand back that jewel you took from Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto yelled.

"And why should we?" Fusada questioned. "This jewel does belong to us, after all."

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked. "Lady Tsunade has had that jewel for ages."

"The Hidden Leaf village had stole the Aura Jewel from our cavern long ago." Fusada explained. "The Hokage has been keeping it a secret, because of the power of this jewel!" The others looked confused at what Fusada was explaining. Fusada took out a large jewel from inside his robe, and showed it to the group. "The Aura Jewel has the power to give any army the strength of a Kage!"

"What?" The ninja group gasped.

Shikamaru was still entitled to the mission at hand. "Regardless, we're still going to take it back! Whatever you are going to do with that jewel surely could not be in any good way."

"You're right, we have a special reason of why we took the jewel." Fusada placed the jewel inside his robe. "If you want to know, then you'll have to kill us for it!"

"Easy." Shikamaru said with courage. "Scatter around them, team!"

Naruto was the first one to run around Fusada and Puraka. Ino followed behind him, and Zero was behind her. They did the same for the other side, Kiba and Akamaru going on the farthest side, then Shikamaru, then Hinata. With one signal from Shikamaru, Naruto summoned his shadow clones again. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled, sending three clones towards the two evil ninja.

Kiba decided to follow up on Naruto's entry idea. "Man Beast Clone!" He yelled. Suddenly, Akamaru had been engulfed in smoke for a short time, and when he was revealed again, he looked exactly like his master. "Fang Over Fang!" Kiba yelled. The shinobi and his ninja hound ran towards Fusada and Puraka on the opposite side of Naruto's charging clones. Both Kiba and Akamaru had started to spin, and after about a second they transformed into two large torpedo-like projectiles.

"Oh, no you don't." Puraka slithered, beginning to do a few hand signs. "Water Style! Aqua Wall Jutsu!" With only a bit of chakra, Puraka had summoned a large wall surrounding both Fusada and himself. Kiba, Akamaru, and the Naruto shadow clones had hit the wall exactly when they were summoned, and were pushed back immediately. The shadow clones that Naruto had used quickly disappeared into smoke. The wall had now broken apart and sent two large waves of water towards Naruto and Kiba. When it hit them both, large amounts of pressurized water had hit them with extraordinary power, sending them flying back at least thirty yards.

Ino had been preparing a combination with Hinata. Hinata had charged towards both of them, ready to use her Gentle Fists technique. "Protective Eight Trigrams! Sixty-Four Palms!" She yelled. Fusada and Puraka turned around, and were surprised to see a large barrier surround themselves and Hinata. Ino was slowly preparing her Mind Transfer technique after Hinata was finished with her jutsu.

Fusada quickly created the Bear hand sign and focused his chakra towards his brain whilst Hinata beginning to use her Protective Eight Trigrams. He had seen Ino waiting for the right moment to use her jutsu, and quickly linked his jutsu to both Hinata and Ino. The two girls' minds had been now controlled by Fusada for a short amount of time. "Mind Link complete." Fusada said, confirming that his jutsu was finished. This quickly froze Ino and Hinata in their tracks, preventing them from using any more jutsu while in Fusada's mind control. Fusada now put up another hand sign, which released Hinata and Ino from his previous jutsu. However, since the two kunoichi were still in shock of what jutsu he had just done, it gave Fusada enough time to use his next jutsu. "Wind Style! Wind Release!" Fusada yelled. This jutsu was easy and simple, and had just pushed Ino and Hinata a distance away from the current battle, about the same distance that Kiba and Naruto had flown.

At this moment, Puraka noticed a large black line that was getting closer and closer to both of them and realized what was happening. Shikamaru was using his Shadow Possesion jutsu, and was crouching whilst putting up a hand sign from his position. "You're trying to possess me, now are you?" Puraka questioned. "I don't think so!" Puraka ran up towards the oncoming shadow and punched the ground in front of it. This created a thin hole in the ground which seemed as though it wouldn't do anything, however it made the shadow fall into the hole. With quick thinking, Puraka followed up with charging at Shikamaru with tremendous speed. Puraka had punched Shikamaru when in the correct distance from him, sending Shikamaru back the same distance as the other four ninja that were trying to get up.

Zero was the only one left unattacked. Grabbing Ascension by the long handle, he quickly made his move, running towards Fusada and Puraka. To his surprise, Hinata and Naruto were running towards them as well. " _They got up pretty fast..._ " Zero thought, then focusing back on his attack.

"I see it in his eyes..." Fusada said, looking at Zero's golden eyes. "I can see flashbacks...bad flashbacks...let's let him remember it." Grinning evilly, he quickly activated another mind jutsu. "Memory Link! Meteor of the Past!" Fusada's eyes widened and was now completely black, pupil and all.

At this exact moment, Zero's line of sight was pushed and was now looking at Fusada's pitch black eyes. He stopped, as if paralyzed. In his mind, Zero was having a flashback, the same as he had gotten before.

 _"YOU DID WHAT?"_

 _"I can't believe a son of ours has done this..."_

 _"You are an embarrassment to our clan."_

 _"You will never be a ninja."_

Zero started to back up, eyes wide and mouth opened a bit. He could not move, and Ascension wasn't reacting to anything either. "I...uh..." Zero couldn't bear to say a word while the flashbacks were still going to him.

Despite what Zero was doing, Hinata and Naruto were still charging at Fesada and Puraka. Puranas noticed this, and quickly put up the Boar hand sign. "Water Style! Water Cage Jutsu!" The dwarf-like ninja yelled. Suddenly, two large cages of water were forming around Naruto and Hinata. The two ninja could not move, but luckily Puraka wasn't filling the cage with water. "Shall we take these two and treat them as slaves?" Puraka turned to the taller Fusada.

"Yes, we will." Fusada answered.

Puraka grinned and grew a mischievous smile. He released the Boar hand sign, but Naruto and Hinata were not being released from their cages. Instead, Fusada was the one that carried on the jutsu, putting up the Boar hand sign. "Water Style! Ring Of Teleportation!" Puraka yelled, using another water jutsu by doing a few more hand signs. Suddenly, a large amount of water was combining out of thin air. It looked like it was creating a bird. Both Fusada and Puraka climbed aboard the water bird as if it wa a mount.

" **ZERO!** " Both Hinata and Naruto yelled back at the dazed Zero, who still couldn't move. The water bird started to fly not the air once Fusada and Puraka were safely on, and started to fly over to the two water cages. All Zero could manage to do at this moment was stare up at the captured ninja. The bird was now flying away, with its claws hanging onto the two cages. Hinata could tell that Zero was under some sort of genjutsu, him not moving.

All Zero saw was the bird flying away from the field with Naruto and Hinata as the genjutsu finally came to a climax and knocked him unconscious.

* * *

 **Alright, well today isn't Wednesday. Sorry about that, this chapter took longer than expected. I've been getting addicted to Naruto Shippuden Blazing, a mobile Naruto game app. It's really fun.**

 **Anyways, remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **Follow my Naruto Amino page: "Zer0Insanity"**

 **Chapter 13? 13, right? Yeah, I think it is. Chapter 13 will be out by either Monday or Tuesday. This is AM, signing off.**


	14. Captured!

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 13 of "Shippuden Zero"! Last chapter was a bit of exciting, wasn't it?**

 **thor94: I can tell you dislike Naruto as a character. :P Don't worry though, I do plan on making him stronger. Although I have to disagree with you on the statement you said about Kurama saving him all the time. Naruto did learn the Rasen Shuriken, and that's how he defeated Kakuza. Although it didn't kill him, it blew up two of his hearts. Naruto will be one of the main parts of a secret technique in the future, however.**

 **Alright, well I did a few threads on Naruto Amino, you can go check them out if you want. Naruto Amino Username: Zero**

 **With that out of the way, enjoy Chapter 13!**

* * *

" _Zero..._ "

" _Zero._ "

" _Zero!_ "

" **ZERO!** "

Zero awoke with a start. He was laying down on a mat that was above solid rock, which hurt his back when he woke up. Shikamaru was looking at him, and Ino was using her medical ninjutsu once again on Zero's head. They seemed to be in a small cave with a campfire in the middle of the cave. "Huh..." Zero asked the group around him. "What...where are we?"

"We're in a cave that was nearby our fight with Fusada and Puraka." Shikamaru explained. "They defeated us all, and managed to take Naruto and Hinata prisoner."

"What?!" Zero blurted out, getting up quickly from the spot he was laying on, pushing away Ino's medical ninjutsu.

"Please, relax Zero." Ino pleaded. "I need to heal you, that Genjutsu that Fusada casted on you could've burnt a part of your brain if he continued with it." Zero followed the plea and lay back down onto the small mat.

"Kiba doesn't seem too happy with you. You might want to pretend to be still unconscious if he walks into the room." Shikamaru suggested.

At this exact moment, Kiba was standing outside the door, and when he heard Zero's voice, he clutched the handle tightly and swung it open. Kiba stomped over to Zero with his blood boiling, ready to start an argument. " **WHAT THE HELL, ZERO!"** Kiba roared, grabbing a hold of Zero's flak jacket and pulling him up. Kiba then slammed Zero against a nearby wall. " **THEY CAPTURED NARUTO AND HINATA, AND WHAT DID YOU DO?** " Kiba's eyes were clearly depicting that he was in extreme anger at the loss of his two friends, however Zero still managed to have a straight face, showing no signs of fear.

"Kiba!" Shikamaru scolded. "Let go of him!"

" **NO! NOT UNTIL HE EXPLAINS WHY HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP!** "

"Zero was under a Genjutsu, Kiba."

" **I DON'T CARE WHAT THE HELL TYPE OF JUTSU HE AS UNDER! IF HE ACTUALLY HAD STRENGTH, HE WOULD'VE RELEASED IT AND GONE AFTER NARUTO AND HINATA!** "

Zero's expression was slowly getting angry by the second of Kiba yelling at him.

" **WELL? WHY DID YOU?** "

Ino and Shikamaru could see Zero's expression getting angrier and angrier, although Kiba was still clouded by his own anger. Zero looked like he was about to release the anger kept inside of him.

" **WHY!** "

" **BECAUSE I SAW MY BASTARD PARENTS!** " Zero roared back. Kiba was stunned at his reaction, and slowly started to lose the grip on Zero. Ino and Shikamaru stood silently as well, shocked at Zero's remark.

"You saw...what?" Kiba started to feel sorry about yelling at Zero. "Your...parents?" Kiba had now fully lost his grip and backed away a little bit.

"That god damn Fusada." Zero explained, his anger lessening. "That Genjutsu he put on me, made me see pictures of my parents. My god damn horrible parents..."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"My parents...were always abusing me...making me do all the work around the house, and then throwing trash at me after I did the work..." Zero released his thoughts out loud. "Always locking me in my basement...giving me restrictions...throwing stuff at me for no reason...always picking after my sister...they thought of me as a waste of time and space...trying to remove me from my future of becoming a ninja...it was disgusting..."

The three other shinobi listening to Zero couldn't really respond in any way. Their families had all treated them well, they couldn't bear to think of what Zero went through.

"Zero..." Ino said.

"So, I ran away." Zero concluded. "And I never want to see them again." He looked off towards the fire, deciding to walk away from the campfire and sit on the ground farther away from the group. "You guys are the first people that ever welcomed me into a home." Zero started to mope, and fifty percent of his mind was thinking of his abusive parents while the other part of his mind was thinking of Naruto and Hinata.

"The first ones..."

* * *

Hinata's eyes slowly opened as the sun was falling down from the center of the sky. She felt a large breeze pushing against her, as if she were fly in the air. "Huh..." She quietly moaned out. The only thing she saw with the small opening of her eyelids was Naruto, who was floating on another water cage a short distance away from her. The cages seemed to be attached to something that looked like water-like claws, which were holding onto the two cages. "N-Naruto?" Hinata asked after seeing the blonde jinchuriki unconscious.

Naruto arose slowly when Hinata called out his name. "Huh...yeah?" Naruto looked over to the voice that spoke to him. "Hinata?" He questioned after he realized who it was. Looking around, Naruto asked, "Where the hell are we?"

"I think we've been captured by those two ninja we battled earlier." Hinata predicted. "This cage is made of water, but the water has so much pressure that we can't break it even with our abilities. It's being carried by a bird, who seems to be going very slow, which isn't moving the cage much."

" _Just like that battle Kakashi had with Zabuza!_ " Naruto thought, remembering the first battle he had as a Genin against one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. "Argh...the nerve of these guys..."

"Let me see if I can see what they are doing." Hinata suggested, activating her Byakugan. Naruto decided to remain quiet, as Fusada and Puraka were having a conversation above them.

"What are we going to do with these two shinobi again?" Puraka's voice came first.

"We're going to deliver them to Lord Ifisiki's territory, of course." Fusada explained. "They can serve as slaves, and them being from the Hidden Leaf village, they have to be powerful enough to finish work faster."

"Lord Ifisiki will be proud of our efforts!" Puraka explained. "Maybe we could even get info from these two shinobi about the Hidden Leaf village, and possibly raid it!"

"Well, our village does have close relations with an Akatsuki member. Maybe we could find info about the Hidden Leaf's jinchuriki, and be paid twice as much as we do after every mission."

"Yes! We will use the Akatsuki member for help!"

"Shhh!" Fusada shushed Puraka. "You could wake them up. They need to regenerate their chakra for the work they will do for Lord Ifisiki once we arrive there tomorrow."

"Yes...Fusada." Puraka followed instructions, decreasing the sound of his voice.

"Alright, let us stop for rest after a few more minutes of traveling on your Aqua Beast."

Hinata released her Byakugan after scanning the area while listening to the conversation. Naruto was shocked at what they heard, realizing a conclusion about what they might do with him. "Hinata...what if they find out that I'm the jinchuriki?" Naruto whispered.

"I'm sure none of that will happen." Hinata quietly tried to persuade Naruto into forgetting that.

"But, you heard them! They have an Akatsuki member on their side!"

"If they try to ask me anything about the jinchuriki, I will say nothing, because I will not reveal any information about you."

Naruto felt relieved at Hinata's remark about never revealing information on him. "Phew...thanks Hinata." Naruto whispered. "I needed that." Hinata replied with a simple nod through the cages. "You know, I'm really glad to have a friend like you, Hinata. I know you always have my back."

Hinata started to blush as she felt enlightened at her crush's trust in her. "T-Thank you, N-Naruto." Her shy personality was starting to come back. " _I will always have your back, Naruto._ "

* * *

"We have to get going soon." Shikamaru explained. "Who knows how far those two could get before we can't get to them."

"Well, we can't go anywhere until Zero gets out of that corner." Ino pointed at the moping Zero, who had Ascension propped up next to him.

"This is such a drag..." Shikamaru groaned. "Kiba, could you please go talk to him and get him out of that corner?"

Kiba was currently leaning against a wall with Akamaru lying down next to him. "Why me?!" He complained.

"Well," Ino replied. "You were the one that yelled at him a few minutes ago."

"Argh..." Kiba had to cheer Zero up, for the sake of the mission. "Fine..."

Kiba removed himself from leaning on the wall and walked over to the corner that Zero was sitting down in. The new ninja was currently just staring at the wall, clearly in deep thought with his hands around his knees. "Zero, come on, we gotta continue the mission." He pleaded, trying to use a simple solution. Zero didn't budge at all and actually tightened his grip on his knees. "Look, I'm sorry for the way I yelled at you earlier. I didn't realize what happened to you under that Genjutsu."

"It's not your fault," Zero said, still staring at the wall. "It's, my fault, for having such a bad past in the first place..."

"It's not that Zero!" Ino said, in which she was listening into Kiba's apology. "It isn't your fault about that! It's those horrific people that actually were proud of calling you their son."

"And listen, I know that you're going through that, in which none of us can ever relate to." Kiba said. "But, as a shinobi, you have to save Naruto and Hinata. They are your friends, which means they're our friends."

"How are they my friends if I couldn't even save them from being trapped in some stupid Genjutsu?" Zero asked. "I'm too weak...being a captive of some stupid mind trick."

"You're clearly stronger than that, Zero." Ino said. "You're equal to us, and as a combined team, we can take down anyone."

"With that scythe of yours, you look a hell of a lot cool, too." Kiba said. Zero couldn't help but grin at Kiba's comment on Ascension.

"We're all shinobi." Shikamaru stated. "Although you're not the same ninja rank as us, we will always treat you as equal."

Zero did not reply to the remark for a few seconds. Finally thinking of a reply, Zero said, "You're right. I'm a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf." Zero slowly started to stand up from the corner. "I must not let past images cloud my mind. I have to focus on the mission at hand." Zero grabbed Ascension off the wall it was propped up against. Turning around, a different expression appeared on his face. An expression of bravery, an expression of strength. An expression, of courage. "Let's go save Naruto and Hinata."

As a sign of pride, Zero activated his Z-vision for no exact reason. Once activated, his vision went black.

* * *

 **Well, that's Chapter 13 of "Shippuden Zero"! Some crazy stuff happened, didn't it!**

 **I don't really have much to say for this closing Author's note, other than the upcoming chapter.**

 **Chapter 14 will be out sometime this week. This is AM, signing off.**


	15. A Demon Inside Of Zero

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 14 of "Shippuden Zero"!**

 **WolfDragon: Naruto and Hinata sure are lucky to have Zero as their buddy!**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you liked it!**

 **UPDATE:** **I changed the ending of Chapter 13, so that it would correspond with this chapter. Please go check it out for a moment before reading this.**

 **Enjoy Chapter 14!**

* * *

Zero felt as if he was falling down into a hole. It's as if using his Z-vision had sent him into a portal.

Finally, Zero felt a cushion press up against his body after a few seconds of falling. This caused his eyes to shoot open. "What the hell..." Zero questioned what just happened. Disregarding the delusion of pain that Zero was suppose to feel, he looked around to see where he was. "Where am I...?"

The terrain that Zero was in looked like another dimension. The area around him had no border, as was continuing off into pitch black darkness. Zero was surrounded in a large blue ring, as if the ring were protecting him from the darkness. "This has to be some sort of dream..."

" **I think not, human.** " A low, evil voice came out of nowhere. " **This is not a dream.** "

"What the...who are you? Show yourself!" Zero commanded to whatever he was speaking to.

" **Ha Ha. You believe that I follow under your commands? You must be delusional, human. I would not show myself, if I was not forced to do so.** " The voice was getting closer and closer the more it spoke. " **You request to know who I am?** " The voice had gotten even closer, and the small sound of chakra stream was slowly appearing. " **Do not fret on your fears when I do show myself, human.** "

The voice had finally gotten to its maximum of being close to Zero. Zero could now see who he was, and he backed up when hypothesizing who it was. "Are you...a demon?" Zero's voice faltered when he questioned the figure in front of him.

The voice was superior to Zero in size, and was about the size of the blue ring surrounding Zero. The beast was outlined with blue chakra around its body and its eyes, along with the back of its body which was shaping out what looked like wings. The beast's skin was completely black, but Zero could depict it from the black around the terrain due to the outline of blue chakra. However, after looking further into the beast's skin, Zero could see small streaks of gray going away from the center of the beasts' body.

" **Let us refer me a demon for now.** " The beast said, creating a devilish smile with the blue chakra surrounding its mouth. Zero could now see his sharp teeth, which were also outlined in blue. " **I cannot reveal my name to you, but my alias is Luras.** "

"Luras." Zero repeated his name. "What do you want from me?"

" **You may not have known it, but I've been inside if your body for a while, human. I was forming myself inside your body with the hatred you obtained as a child. Your parents? The other ninja at the Academy? And specifically, that older sibling of yours.** " Luras explained. " **I wanted to introduce myself, so I could get you away from two aspects that are preventing my chakra from being used.** "

"What are those two aspects?" Zero completely ignored the idea of him forming himself because of Zero's hatred towards his childhood.

" **It seems that...whenever the power of the Byakugan and that disgusting Tailed-Beast's chakra is combined, it can either prevent or increase my chakra. For the last few times you've tried to use your Zuliksoo, or how you humans call it "Z-vision", the probability has been in favor of my chakra being held back.** "

" _Hinata and Naruto?_ " Zero thought about his two friends. " _They're preventing this guy's chakra from being released?"_

 _"_ **Yes, those two humans are.** " Luras said, as if reading his thoughts.

"What the hell?" Zero questioned. "You can read my thoughts?"

" **Precisely.** "

"Alright, Luras, so what else do you need?"

" **It seems that when that other human cast the Genjutsu on you earlier, your Yushiki orbs had been disabled. And, since you are thinking of asking me what those are, I'll tell you. The Yushiki orbs are small orbs I placed in the back of your eyes when you were a child. I was disgusted at the sight of those other ninja making a fool out of you, so I decided to give you the Z-vision, which is the power of those orbs.** "

Zero was baffled at the information that was given to him. "You did that...without my consent?" Zero questioned, his voice getting a little louder than normal.

" **Do not try to raise your voice at me, human. I have the power to remove almost all of your chakra in an instant to ensure that your retrieval of the Aura Jewel is a failure.** "

"Alright." Zero said, calming down. "But how are you speaking to me when I'm in the real world right now? Am I unconscious?"

" **No, my Genjutsu can transport you into my dimension for a long period of time. This Genjutsu can alter time, so one second in the real world is actually an hour in this world. I can only do this Genjutsu when I am transporting your conscious to this dimension.** "

"Okay, but you have some more explaining to do about those orbs later."

" **Yes, but because this is the first time I've summoned you into my dimension inside of your body, I can only have you here for a short amount of time.** "

"Seems fair."

" **Yes, human, it is. Now, I'm only ordered to help you because if you die, I am summoned out into the real world. However, I will have no chakra left unless a Tailed-Beast gives me half of their chakra. And I won't guarantee that I'll kill them in the process.** **Now, I will restore your Yushiki orbs back with my chakra, which will last forever.** "

"Alright..." Zero said, walking up to Luras. When in the correct distance, Laura's reached his demon hand out towards Zero, and started to create blue chakra around the outlines of his claw. Zero was caught off guard for the small pain in his eyes once the chakra touched his eyes.

" **Stay still, human. I cannot regenerate the chakra if you are moving about.** "

Zero followed, trying to contain the pain and push it aside. Although it made his eyes burn, it only lasted for a few seconds. Luras released the jutsu, signaling Zero that it was over. "Argh...what does this do again?"

" **It will enhance your Z-vision, but will also give you a little bit of a surprise. You shall find out later.** "

"I hope so." Zero confirmed. " _Orbs in the back of my head, huh? I knew Z-vision wasn't normal, but I didn't really care to wonder about it or find out why I had it. Good thing Luras was here."_

" **And, one more thing. I must also teach you one of my juts, although I barely use it because of my stronger powers.** "

"What is it?" Zero asked the demon.

" **It is called the Spiritual Summon, an ancient summoning only used by young beasts like myself who couldnt use any other jutsu.** "

"Alright, Luras, how exactly can you teach me this jutsu?"

" **It is not going to be as quick as when I restored your Yushiki orbs, but it should go relatively fast. Now, because you need my chakra to do this jutsu, I will combine it with your own chakra.** " Luras launched one of his fingers to Zero, touching the top of his head with the large fingernail that he had. Blue chakra started to flow from Luras towards Zero. Although it didn't hurt, Zero could feel his strength intensifying. Clearly the Luras' chakra was of great strength. After a few minutes of absorbing Luras' chakra, the demon stopped it and moved his hand back to its regular placement. " **My chakra** **has now been combined with yours. Now, I want you to concentrate your chakra towards your palms and stick them outward.** "

Zero did so, forcing his chakra into his hands. His hands started to light up with blue chakra, but it slowly was changing color to a darker shade of blue. Zero could feel his chakra ready to use a jutsu.

" **Now, form a Boar hand sign, then a Hawk, then a Bird, and then a Boar again. Once you've done that, quickly point your palms towards the ground in front of you.** "

Once again, Zero abided by Luras' instructions, doing exactly as he said, forming the hand signs that he was told to do. After the hand signature had been complete, the chakra in Zero's palms started to flow outward towards his fingertips, some still remaining in his palms.

" **Imagine two things that you would like to summon, and then force your chakra out of your hands towards the ground. This should finish the Spiritual Summon.** "

Zero's followed the instructions to finish the jutsu. He thought of the only two people that were in his mind at this moment. Once he forced the chakra out of his hands, a large beam of chakra shot out towards the ground from his palms. The chakra seemed to sit there for a second, before shuddering and forming itself into something else. The chakra was stacking up as if there were more than before. Once the chakra had been stacked up into two different sizes, one small and one size. The chakra started to gain different colors, until it started to form out two people.

" **Ah, I see.** " Luras observed. " **The Nine-Tails jinchuriki and that Byakugan girl. It seems that you have beginner's luck on this summoning. It will ultimately get better, however.** "

Naruto and Hinata were both created, but they had gray chakra surrounding them. "Luras, why is their chakra gray?"

" **They are Spiritual Summons. The gray chakra is preventing anything from touching them, but know this,** " Zero looked back at Luras as he spoke. " **This jutsu will only last thirty seconds. Make it count, human.** "

"Thirty seconds." Zero repeated. "Got it."

" **These Spiritual Summons can summon anything in the current world with every jutsu that person or thing can do. I recommend you train with a favorite, as I can see a connection between you three. Use these as your normal Spiritual Summons, human.** "

"Sure," Zero confirmed. "But how exactly do they their jutsu?"

" **Just speak the jutsu that you would like them to use.** "

"Alright. Uh...Air Palm?" Zero questioned, looking at the Hinata that was facing away from him, ready for battle. Hinata did not respond.

" **You must say the jutsu correctly. The full name.** "

"Oh, I remember it now." Zero said, looking back at Hinata. "Eight Trigrams, Vacuum Palm!" Hinata jumped into the air and started to float. The ghost form of the Hyuga girl launched out two waves of air from her palms, aiming at the ground.

" **Very precise. Tell the ghost form of the jinchuriki now.** "

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Zero shouted. The spirit form of Naruto created a hand sign that looked like a plus, creating smoke in the area. When the smoke disappeared, there were four clones of Naruto beside the real one. The Naruto's then charged towards the nothingness and started to punch the air, for no exact reason.

" **They are striking nothing because there is no other life forms in this dimension, other than yourself and mine.** "

"Wow, I learned that fast!" Zero exclaimed.

" **Yes, you did. I would congratulate you, but you are just a human.**

Blue chakra started to form around Zero. "What's happening?" He questioned as the chakra was slowly surrounding him.

" **Your time here has reached its limit. You will now be transported back into the real world, where only half a second has passed. You will have all the memory of your time in this dimension, however. Make sure you use the Z-vision and the Spiritual Summoning, as I won't be teaching you jutsu that often.** "

"Alright, Luras. Thanks for the new jutsu!" Zero said as the chakra was completely around him. Luras had said a few things after that before the transportation was complete, but one line specfically made him wonder what Luras was going to do next.

" **I will release my full power into you the next time you have a nightmare.** "

* * *

 **^ Remember that last line ^**

 **I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 14! This is 14, right? Yeah, I think it is. Let me check real fast...**

 **Yeah, this is 14. Alright well, remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you liked this chapter!**

 **Chapter 15 will be out by Saturday or maybe at the beginning of next week. Then again...I do have exams. So just tune in, and I'll update on Naruto Amino when the next chapter is. This is AM, signing off.**


	16. I Will Rescue Them

**Hello everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of "Shippuden Zero"! Last chapter seemed to spark a lot of views.**

 **NOTE: I'll be editing chapters frequently, such as Chapter 14, as I believe it didn't catch much of the readers attention. I think I know what I did wrong in that chapter. I believe that it came out of nowhere that Zero is visited by a demon. Let me just clarify, Zero is  NOT a jinchuriki. Details about Luras will be explained later in Shippuden Zero, and possibly very soon.**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you liked it!**

 **Enjoy Chapter 15!**

* * *

Zero had just returned back to the regular realization of the current position he was in. He was back in the cave, back from the strange dimension of the demon that was apparently living inside of him. " _Luras was right._ " Zero remembered the words Luras had spoke to him. " _His Genjutsu did slow down time in this world, by a lot_."

The three other ninja, Ino, Kiba, and Shikamaru were all looking at Zero with courage and happiness, as if what he declared before had happened only a second ago, which it ultimately did. "Alright then, let's get moving." Shikamaru proclaimed, already heading out the door.

As they were heading out the door, the sudden burst of power inside of Zero's body came to be. He could tell that Luras was giving him strength for the next battle. " _You may be a demon...but it sure is nice of you to teach me a jutsu and give me a little of your chakra. Didn't you say that you weren't a demon though?_ " Zero began to think that he was talking to Luras, in which he wasn't. " _You said 'Let me- "_

"You coming, Zero?" Kiba asked him, interrupting his thoughts. The other ninja were waiting for him at the exit of the cave.

"Huh?" Zero came back into reality and remembered the mission at hand. "Oh, yeah." Zero grabbed Ascension, which was propped up against the wall next to him. He then followed the group to the exit of the cave.

The bright beams of sunlight came through the large clouds in the sky, giving Zero the realization that it was getting brighter. Zero looked towards the sky before the group started their were towards the scent that Akamaru was picking up of the bird. As they began to run, Zero could only think of what he would've said to his two friends at this moment. " _Don't worry, Naruto and Hinata. I'm coming after you, and I sure as hell won't let them do anything to you_."

* * *

"You would probably like some food, would you now?" Fusada mocked the two shinobi in the cage, holding up a piece of bread from the campfire they were next to. "You'll get your fair share of food...once you're in our labor camp." Fusada grew a large, evil grin on his face.

"Fusada, what do you think the labor camp is like?" Puraka asked.

"Well, I know it isn't very much fun."

Puraka began to look at Hinata. "Hey, won't she be the first female ninja to work unde Lord Ifisiki?"

"I believe so." Fusada looked away from the cage for a moment, then returned with an idea. "Kunoichi, what is your name?"

Hinata was forced to answer the question Fusada had given her, as she had no way to refuse it. "H-Hinata Hyuga."

"A Hyuga!" Puraka exclaimed. "Well, she must be of plenty help for labor, possibly as a guard."

"Yes, the Byakugan would be of assistance." Fusada added on.

"I doubt that she would be of any help, though. Look how weak she looks! I could probably crush her with a simple water gun jutsu!" Puraka began to make fun of Hinata. "And how could you possibly have the Byakugan if you're as weak as being easily put down by a simple Water style? Your clan must be humiliated that they have a ninja like you in the clan."

"Definitely." Fusada added on again. "It is quite implausible on how you even became a Genin of the Hidden Leaf." Fusada pointed at the ninja headband around Hinata's neck.

"If you're really a Hyuga, then show us your Byakugan."

 _"If you're really a Hyuga, then show us your Byakugan."_

Those words sank into Hinata's head. They were familiar, but it took her a few seconds to realize where those words came from. " _Those words..._ " Hinata began to think. " _Those words are the exact words that those three said to me...the day I enrolled at Academy._ " Tears started to roll down from her eyes, remembering of how the bullies made fun of her that day. " _The day they made fun of my dream to become a ninja..._ " More tears came, remembering the horrid pictures. All of the sudden, she remembered the other person she met that day. " _The day I met Naruto..._ " Hinata looked over to the other cage, where the shinobi that stood up for her against the three bullies that day was looking down, starting to shudder.

Fusada and Puraka's laughs came about, getting louder and louder by the second.

" **SHUT UP!** " Naruto shouted, finished with the amount of discouragement the two ninja were giving Hinata. " **STOP MAKING FUN OF HER, OR I'LL SEND YOU BOTH TO HELL!** " He continued to roar, standing up and running over to the water bars that caged him and started to hold them.. " **YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH US SHINOBI GO THROUGH TO MAKE IT TO THIS POINT. SO JUST SHUT UP!** "

Fusada and Puranas were a bit taken back at the yelling Naruto had done to them. "A shinobi with that amount of anger in such little time?" Puraka asked his elder ninja. "Could it be? Have we captured...?"

"I think you may be right, Puraka." Fusada concluded. "He could be...the one the Akatsuki member was after."

"Well then, we must get moving and bring him to the Akatsuki member right away. I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

"Yes, he did say that he did not like to be kept waiting. His physique was a bit strange as well."

"Well, let's head out, Fusada." Puraka got up from the spot he was sitting in and began to take out the fire.

Hinata couldn't help but stare at Naruto. He had done what he did long ago, stand up for her again. Her tears had stopped. " _Thank you, Naruto._ "

* * *

"Are we close by?" Zero asked Kiba as they were running towards the scent.

"How much further, buddy?" Kiba asked Akamaru, who was running in front of them, follow the scent. The ninja hound barked in response. "Alright, it should be up ahead!"

"Get yourselves ready, guys." Shikamaru suggested. "We're not letting them get any further with Naruto and Hinata."

"Right!" Zero, Kiba, and Ino all exclaimed in unison.

After about half a minute, the group of ninja ran past the last tree that was in the fost, giving them the full view of what was ahead. A large mountain came into view, and sure enough, a large water bird was resting at the bottom of it. Two cages were next to it, housing two people. Two more people were starting to remove everything around the water bird, such as the campfire they had set up. "There they are!" Ino pointed towards the bottom of the mountain, where the two ninja that they battled earlier were.

Zero, aroused with anger, leaped as high as he could towards the direction of his captured friends and the two evil shinobi. He grabbed Ascension from his weapon holder and his back, and began to pull it back as he was falling in the direction of Fusada and Puraka. Zero was ready to swing his scythe at them.

Once in the correct distance, Zero swung at the two evil shinobi. Ascension made a large noise as it swung, but unfortunately both Fusada and Puranas were able to dodge the swing by jumping backwards from it.

"Ah...looks like we tried to leave a little too late." Puraka grinned as he remembered the shinobi's face. "This should be relatively easy, just like before."

"Yes. Let us just make it quick." Fusada replied.

Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shikamaru ran up behind Zero, ready to back him up with their style of fighting.

"Zero!" Hinata and Naruto exclaimed in unison as the male shinobi they had befriended came to rescue them.

"I'll come get you guys in a second." Zero claimed as he looked over to his caged friends.

"Oh, and how are you going to do that?" Fusada questioned. "We defeated you in less than five minutes last time. Now that we know your skills and abilities, we should defeat you in half that time." A grin grew on his face.

Zero started to laugh under his breath. "You forgot about the new abilities I've obtained. This should be easy."

Fusada's expression changed instantly, anger growing onto his face. "How dare you mock our power! Prepare to die!" The evil ninja charged with his ally towards the four remaining shinobi who were ready to free their friends.

One look at Zero's expression and you could already tell what he was going to do. Zero began to summon the Protective Eight Trigrams and began the first palm strikes that Hinata taught him. However, something odd happened while he was summoning the trigrams. Dark blue chakra started to surround the young shinobi, giving him strength while he was activating the Protective Eight Trigrams. " _Thank you once more, Luras._ " Zero thought.

"We will take the jinchuriki and please our lord!" Puraka claimed while charging alongside Fusada.

Zero's chakra and strength was now enhanced with the demon's power. Charging his hands with his chakra, Zero said one more thing before using his first move. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

 **That's Chapter 15! I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **I'm taking exams tomorrow and Wednesday, so the next chapter probably won't be out until Thursday or Friday.**

 **Go visit my Naruto Amino page and vote with your opinion of who should be Zero's love interest!**

 **Chapter 16 will be out, as I said, Thursday or Friday. This is AM, signing off.**


	17. Rematch! Fusada and Puraka!

**Welcome to Chapter 16 of "Shippuden Zero"! I hope you guys enjoyed last chapter, and was it okay? I hope I did okay with it, I felt that it was a bit too sped up and all.**

 **NOTE: I realized that we're starting to lose favorites and follows, and I think I know the chapter that messed everything up. It was probably the chapter with Luras, which I believe is Chapter 14, as I am inferring that you guys did not like that chapter because Luras came out of nowhere. I will edit that chapter so it can make sense in accordance with the story, and I'll try twice as hard to make sure the entire story is lined up with correct info that fits in with the chapter before and after it as I continue to write.**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **That's all for now, enjoy Chapter 16!**

* * *

" **PROTECTIVE EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY FOUR PALMS!** " Zero shouted as the Trigrams jutsu he activated was now into motion. With the combination of Luras' chakra, Zero's palms lit up dark blue. Power was flowing throughout his body as if he was a new being. The barrier "was activated, and within seconds Zero was hitting both Fusada and Puraka with amazing amounts of power and speed. With only a few palm strikes, Fusada was flown into one direction and Puraka flew into the opposite direction. "How did we lose to you two again?" Zero asked once the two evil ninja got back up from the place they had been hit to.

"Funny, kid." Puraka muttered with an evil grin. "We were holding back last time."

"Yes, we were in fact." Fusada added. "If we must not hold back this time, I believe that the Brothers of the Oshuro will protect all things relevant to Lord Ifisiki. Get yourself ready, Puraka."

"I'm always ready, brother."

Fusada began to do a lineage of hand signs from his position. First a bear, then a boar, then a dragon, and repeating that procedure a few times. "Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Fusada commanded, activating his jutsu and creating a circle with his hands. From Fusada's point of view, the circle was surrounding Zero's head, meaning that it was locked onto his mind.

Ino realized what was happening. "Zero!" She called his name out and started to run towards him. "You need to dodge his Mind Transfer jutsu! Run around, he can't move the circle around much!"

Zero did as followed, and started to do barrel rolls on the ground to dodge the Mind Transfer jutsu. Sure enough, Fusada was slowly moving around, unable to move fast enough to aim back on Zero.

"Argh!" Fusada complained. "You stupid kunoichi! Maybe this will keep all of you quiet so we can kill this friend of yours." Fusada put up a single hand sign, and began to use another jutsu. "Mind Summoning, Spiritual Paper Bombing Jutsu!" Fusada commanded, activating the jutsu. A noise that sounded like a ghost came about in the area, as large paper bombs started appear out of nowhere in the sky and fly down in the direction of the Hidden Leaf ninja.

"Look out!" Shikamaru yelled. Although Kiba, Akamaru, and himself were close enough to the border, Zero and Ino were both directly under all of the paper bombs. "Zero! Ino! Get out of there!"

Both Zero and Ino realized the position they were in. "We gotta get out of here Ino. My Protective Eight Trigrams shouldn't be used on explosives." Zero informed Ino as the two started to run away towards the direction of Shikamaru and Kiba.

"Oh, no you don't." Puraka smirked as he began to do a jutsu as a follow up to Fusada's Paper Bombing jutsu. "Water Style, Oshuro's Whirlpool!" Puraka summoned a large whirlpool that surrounded the area around Zero and Ino with water from a nearby river. The whirlpool engulfed the two ninja in water, drawing them back towards the area where Fusada's paper bombs were landing.

"Don't worry guys, I'll take care of it!" shouted Kiba as the ninja began to sprint towards the whirlpool. "Come on Akamaru! We've been practicing this jutsu for a while, let's make sure it works!" Akamaru suddenly appeared next to his owner, ready for battle. "Beast Mimicry, Shield of the Iron Wolf!" Kiba shouted, as himself and Akamaru started to transform into a cloud of smoke. Once the smoke dissipated, Akamaru had transformed into Kansas exact replica of Kiba, finishing off the Beast Mimicry. The duo continued to charge towards the whirlpool, beginning to copy the same procedure used for the Fang Over Fang. However, once they were in full rotation, they both began to turn bright green. The two ninja began to circle around the oncoming paper bombs, creating a large flat bubble from the radius of their jutsu. As the paper bombs descended into the bubble, they instantly exploded, protecting Zero and Ino from the explosions as they began to swirl around the whirlpool. "Take that!" Kiba exclaimed once his and Akamaru's jutsu calmed down after the last paper bomb exploded.

Before Kiba's jutsu finished, Akamaru and himself charged at Fusada and Puraka with the last bit of power they had for their jutsu. "Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouted as they attacked the two evil ninja. Fusada and Puraka were blown back, skidding on their back on the rocks nearby the mountain.

"Argh..." Puraka muttered as he saw his whirlpool starting to wash away from his position, giving Zero and Ino the freedom to get away from it.

"Thanka, Kiba." Zero said as Kiba and Akamaru got back to the ground next to him.

"No problem," Kiba replied. "Let's just get Hinata and Naruto back!"

"You think that you were holding back last time?" Shikamaru explained as his shadows flew past the three ninja standing before the weakened Fusada and Puraka. "I wasn't even planning our moves, I just wanted to see what you could do!" When the shadows came across Fusada and Puraka, they attached to the two ninja, completely immobilizing them. "Shadow Possession Jutsu complete." Shikamaru confirmed as he stood up. Once he stood up, Fusada and Puraka seemed to be mimicking his movements, meaning Shikamaru had full control over their bodies. "Now, Ino!"

"Got it!" Ino exclaimed as she began to use her own jutsu. The blonde kunoichi held up a hand sign that looked like a circle, similar to the one Fusada had put up earlier. "Mind Destruction Jutsu!" Ino yelled. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Fusada and Puraka both cried out in pain, as if something invisible had happened. Little did every else know, the two evil ninja had half of their chakra taken away. "I've done my part, Zero you're up!"

"I'm on it." Zero confirmed. "" _Now, here's the real question..._ " Zero thought. " _What jutsu do I do? I don't know any jutsu like the others._ "

Although Fusada looked like he was completely knocked out, Puraka was pulling his dwarfish body out of the rubble. "Fusada..." He said as he looked over to his ally. "I will make you proud and end these losers!" Puraka claimed as he began to charge chakra in his hands. A small amount of water began to form in that exact location, as if it was forming some sort of straight object. "Water Style, Aqua Blade..." Puraka muttered from the pain as the water began to form a sword on his hand. Puraka then charged at Zero, who was the closest one to him.

" _That's it!_ " Zero finally remembered what he needed to do. " _Okay, I have to remember the first thing Naruto told Hinata and I by the waterfall. I have to manage the rotation of my chakra._ " Zero began to concentrate his chakra to his hands, and began to try and rotate it. A small ball of chakra began to form in his hand the more he concentrated on the jutsu.

Before, when Zero tried this with Hinata at the waterfall, rotation was what was troubling him. Hinata had almost mastered the second step, and he was still struggling on the first step. " _Come on...I'm doing this for Naruto and Hinata..._ "

With the amount of chakra Zero was concentrating in his hands, the focus in rotating it had grew tremendously. This started to rotate the chakra in the ball in his hand, meaning that the first step was done. " _Nice! Alright...I have to focus on the second step. Power should be easy, right?_ "

At this moment, when Zero was charging the power, he noticed a little bit of dark blue chakra fade into the small ball of chakra in his hands. " _Luras' chakra is going into it...looks like he's generous..."_ Zero thought of the demon. Because the dark blue chakra was already in the small ball, the second step was now finished.

" _The last step is containment._ " Zero remembered as he began to shape the sphere into the final step of the jutsu. By combining the first two steps into the ball of chakra, Zero focused hard in containing it into the sphere. Although he only learned the first step of the jutsu, Zero overheard how to do the other steps when Naruto was explaining them to Hinata. " _Got it!_ " Zero thought as the sphere was now fully completed, giving off dark blue light from its interior. Small streaks of chakra leaked from the ball into Zero's hand.

Zero started to run towards Puraka with the ball in his hands. The two fighting shinobi showed no sign of fear, as if this battle could go either way. The two were now in close proximity, and the moment Zero was about ten yards away from Puraka, he brought the chakra ball outwards. Zero was planning to hit Puraka with the ball of chakra. The two came closer and closer, as if the stare-off would never end as they were running. Finally, both of the ninja attacked each other, Zero giving off one sentence before aiming the chakra ball at Puraka's water blade.

" **RASENGAN!** "

* * *

 **That's the end of Chapter 16! I hope you all enjoyed, and I would like to apologize for not releasing this chapter on the date it was suppose to come out. I've been working on Naruto Ultimate Ninja Blazing for a while, so sorry about that.**

 **Please review on how I did this battle scene! I would like to know if you guys liked it or not, and also tell me how I can improve future battle scenes!**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **Also follow my Naruto Amino page! I give out updates on new chapters there after I post them.**

 **Chapter 17 will hopefully be released some time this week. Farewell, because this is AM, signing off.**


	18. Mission Completed

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 17 of "Shippuden Zero"! We lost a few favorites and follows last chapter, so I will make myself determined to get those favorites back! Let's shoot for 3,000 words this chapter! I don't know how I'm going to do that though...it will take a little longer, probably.**

 **This will also be the last chapter of this arc. That being, it should be relatively long as I do have a few more things to explain while keeping this story in correlation with Naruto Shippuden. Hope for the best!**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like this chapter!**

 **With that, enjoy the last chapter of the first arc of "Shippuden Zero"!**

* * *

" **RASENGAN!** "

The two attacks collided with extreme power, Zero nor Puraka wanting the other one alive. Puraka's water sword was flaring with the aqua essence inside of it when coming in contact with Zero's Rasengan. Both jutsus were trying to see which was the superior, both of the attacks turning bright yellow as if they were connected.

The power of Zero's Rasengan was too tremendous for Puraka to try and resist it. After a few seconds of the collision, Puraka's aqua sword disappeared from his hand, giving Zero a full opportunity to strike Puraka with the Rasengan. By doing so, the Rasengan slammed into the dwarf's chest with extraordinary power. Puraka was sent flying in the opposite direction of which he attacked by the Rasengan. He eventually hit the area next to Fusada, who was still unconscious from Kiba's Fang Over Fang jutsu.

Zero was staring at Puraka as he was sent flying into the mountain. Regardless of the fact he had just mastered the Rasengan in less than a night, Zero still was surprised that he managed to do so on the inside but not on the outside.

Kiba, Ino, and Shikamaru rushed over to Zero a few seconds after Puraka slammed into the mountain. "Zero? Isn't that...the Fourth Hokage's jutsu?" Shikamaru asked. Zero replied by turning to him with a cold stare. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Zero finally replied by changing his expression to a slightly happy expression. They began to walk towards the two defeated ninja to make sure they were down. "That was the Fourth Hokage's jutsu? Who was he?"

"The fourth leader of the village. You might otherwise know him as Naruto's father." Kiba explained. "The Rasengan was one of his signature moves, a type of ninjutsu that he developed himself."

The group of four had made it to the two unconscious bodies on the ground. "Naruto's dad, huh? That's a bit...wait what's this?" Zero noticed something next to the Aura Jewel that was in Fusada's robe, which had been ripped apart when he was attacked. "A key?" Zero noticed that it had some sort of key look to it.

"Wait, maybe that's the key to the water cages? There should be two of them, right?" Ino suggested.

"No...there's three..."

"Why would there be three keys for two cages?"

"Not sure, but one of them seems to be larger than the other." Zero brought the three keys out of the unconscious shinobi's pocket, showing them that there were two small water keys and another which was twice the other keys size and had small parts of metal surrounding it. The water key had small particles inside of it, floating around each part of the key. At the tip of the key was a large green shard, reflecting light from the sunlight and producing green light in response.

"Here, let me see it." Shikamaru said. Zero handed him the larger key in response. "I'll keep this locked in Lady Tsunade's vault back at the Hokage building."

Zero remembered what to do after that. "Hinata! Naruto!" He exclaimed looking over to his two friends who were still locked up. Zero quickly disregarded the Aura Jewel and left the others to obtain it, running over to Naruto and Hinata. "Are you guys alright?" He questioned once he got to the two cages.

"Yeah...Naruto isn't doing so well though..." Hinata replied. "I hurt my feet when we landed next to the mountain, but Naruto is unconscious."

"Don't worry, let's get out of here." Zero conditioned, beginning to unlock Hinata's cage with one of the water keys. "How exactly did Naruto become unconscious?"

"I think one of the ninja casted a Genjutsu on him while I wasn't looking." Hinata looked over to the unconscious shinobi with a sad expression. "Please give him more medical attention."

Zero stared at Hinata for a moment. " _More medical attention? That's a strong bond you have there, Hinata..._ " He thought. "Ino, we need your medical ninjutsu over here!" Zero called out towards the blonde kunoichi over by Fusada's body.

Ino arrived by Zero's side in a few seconds. "What's up?" She asked.

"Could you use your medical ninjutsu on Naruto?" Zero asked as he unlocked Naruto's cage. "Naruto seems to be unconscious."

"What about Hinata?" Ino looked over at the Hyuga girl.

"She said she wanted you to heal Naruto." Zero restated. "I will always follow her requests so I can repay my debts to her. So, could you please heal Naruto first?"

"Sure..." Ino looked over to Zero with question. " _Debts? Is Zero talking about the jutsu Hinata taught him?"_

The water keys fell into the ground once Zero unlocked the second cage. Both cages did as well, turning into actual water and falling towards the ground. Naruto and Hinata only got a little damp from the water, no harm was done to them at all. Ino went over to Naruto and began to use her healing ninjutsu on his chest.

Zero walked over to Hinata to make sure she was okay. "Your legs aren't broken, right?"

"I don't think so." Hinata quietly replied as she began to stand up. Once she had stood up, her legs trembled and she automatically fell back to the ground. Zero caught her so she wouldn't hurt herself when she fell back towards the ground.

"Take it easy, Hinata." Zero told her and slowly let her rest sitting down on the ground for a moment.

"Zero! Ino!" Shikamaru called from back next to Fusada's body. "We've completed our mission and obtained the Aura Jewel. Let's head back to the village."

"We'll be there in a second!" Zero replied. "Ino, let's get going, you can heal Naruto when we're heading back."

"I don't think I'll need to." Ino said. "There's nothing wrong with any of Naruto's body parts or chakra points. He's just unconscious."

"Alright. Get him on Akamaru and we'll head back."

"On it." Ino confirmed as she tried to lift up Naruto to get him to Akamaru. "I think he's had too much ramen..." Ino jokingly said as it seemed that she couldn't lift up Naruto; he was too heavy. Regardless, she managed to drag him towards Akamaru and the others.

"Kiba!" Zero yelled over to the beast tamer. "Could you hold my scythe for me?" Zero removed Ascension from his weapon holder and tossed it over to Kiba. Despite its size, Zero still had the strength to toss it far.

"Sure thing!" Kiba replied as he let the scythe land on the ground before picking it up. He didn't want to try getting impaled from trying to catch it. Ino had now reached him, and he helped Naruto get onto Akamaru's back before picking up Ascension again.

Zero turned around to look back at Hinata. "Alright, let's get back to the village." Zero turned around and kneeled towards the ground, lifting up Hinata by her thighs and pulling her up onto his back. Hinata wrapped her arms around Zero, letting Zero carry her in his back. "Are you doing alright?"

"Yeah...I'm alright." Hinata replied, giving him the "OK" to continue forward.

"Alright, Shikamaru we're ready." Zero confirmed as he started to walk back to the group, Hinata being stable on his back.

"I wish Sai was here," Ino said. "We'd get back to the village way faster..."

"Isn't he finishing the mission with Anko and Yamato or something?" Kiba asked.

"Yes, since they had to return early after the whole thing with Pain." Shikamaru informed.

"Pain? Who is Pain?" Zero asked as he and Hinata and gotten back to the group.

"Right, you weren't here when the attack happened." Shikamaru realized. "Well, Pain is..."

Shikamaru continued to tell Zero about the story of the attack on Pain as they continued their way back to the village, leaving Fusada and Puraka's bodies still unconscious on the ground next to the mountain. The mission was finally over.

* * *

"At least nothing happened to the village while we were gone." Ino said as they stepped over the border of the forest and the village. "Other than, you know, the Pain attack."

"Welcome back!" Kotetsu greeted them at the desk of the gate. "What happened to Naruto?"

"Oh, hey Kotetsu and Izumo." Shikamaru waved to the two gatekeepers. "Naruto's unconscious, but should be back to normal in a bit."

"And Hinata?" Izumo asked, noticing that Hinata was being carried by Zero. "Why is she on Zero's back?"

"Hinata damaged her legs a little bit on the mission. Nothing too dangerous." Zero replied.

Naruto was beginning to move his head around, meaning he was starting to wake up. "Huh...what happened..." Naruto mumbled as he started to gain his vision back. " _Why am I on Akamaru?_ " Naruto realized he was on Kiba's ninja hound.

"Well, that's good." Kotetsu replied, not noticing that Naruto was beginning to wake up. "She should be alright for when all of us go to w-"

Kotetsu was cut off by Izumo. "Shh!" Izumo pointed at Naruto, who was beginning to look around.

"Oh, sorry." Kotetsu mumbled as he sat down in the seat behind him. "We can't tell him about that," He mumbled. Zero decided to disregard what he was talking about, as whatever it was must be a secret of some sort.

"Hey, Naruto you're awake!" Kiba noticed that Naruto was beginning to get off Akamaru.

"Yeah...what happened?" Naruto asked as he regained full control of his body, his chakra circulation returning to normal and his body being fully awake.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain, but..." Shikamaru started to say.

" **ZERO!** " A voice yelled out from their right. It was Shizune, who was running towards their direction. "Zero! Lady Tsunade wanted to see you the moment you returned to the village!"

"Oh, uh sure." Zero accepted. "I'll be there in a second." Shizune turned around and began to walk back from wherever she came from. "Naruto, since you're awake, could you please carry Hinata back to our room? I'm sure she would like to rest for a little bit."

"Sure, I guess." Naruto replied as he went over to Zero. Zero started to loosen his grip on Hinata, letting Naruto hold her little by little. Hinata was too tired to speak, but knew what was going on around her.

"Alright, make sure she gets back to her room."

"I will, don't worry."

"Shikamaru, don't you need to return the Aura Jewel as well? And those two strange keys?" Zero turned to Shikamaru.

"Yes, I will return them to the Vault in the Hokage building. First I have to go make sure Choji didn't raid any of the food storages."

"Alright, I'll catch up with you guys after whatever Lady Tsunade needs to tell me." Zero began to run towards the village, waving behind him.

"Bye Zero!" Ino, Kiba, and Naruto all said in unison.

Zero took one look back at the group before he disappeared into the village, noticing that Naruto and Hinata were both looking at him with smiles on their face. He couldn't help but smile back, knowing that both of them were safe.

* * *

The door opened with a creak in Tsunade's office. Zero appeared through the doorway, next to Shizune who came in first.

Tsunade was sitting at the Hokage's desk. "Hello Zero." She returned her focus to the shinobi who she needed to talk to. "I see you have just returned from your mission. Was it a success?"

"Yes. Also, Shikamaru was going to return the Aura Jewel back to the Hokage Vault in a bit."

"Alright. Well, Shizune did you inform Zero what I needed to tell him about?" Tsunade folded her hands.

"No, I did not." Shizune replied next to Tsunade.

"Very well." Tsunade gulped, as if she was trying to think of something. "Zero, most of the shinobi in the village are going off onto an S-rank mission, and it is very important that we have a few shinobi protecting the village. Because of our need in strength, we have decided to gather all the Jonin and highly trained Chunin from the village for this S-rank mission. This means that all the Genin, Academy Students, women, elderly, and a few Chunin will stay to protect the village."

"Seems fair enough." Zero said once Tsunade stopped explaining what was happening. "Will Hinata and Naruto be going on this S-rank mission?" He asked out of the blue. Zero wanted to make sure they would be in safe care in case they would be going on this S-rank mission.

Tsunade gulped once more once Zero was finished saying what he needed to say. "Um, yes. However, because Naruto is a jinchuriki, he must be introduced to traveling by boat to train with his Tailed-Beast off on an island for this S-rank mission. I believe that Naruto may decline the offer, due to his his hatred for his Tailed-Beast inside of him. So please, do not tell him about this S-rank mission."

"I understand." Zero confirmed.

"The mission you've just completed was an A-rank mission." Shizune explained. "Some of our high-leveled Chunin could not even complete a mission like this, so this means, despite you being a Genin, you still have the capabilities of one of our high-leveled Chunin and possibly even Jonin."

"Yes, but because you are a Genin, we need you to protect the village in case of an attack from the other villages around the Land of Fire."

"Very well. I will protect the village when you leave." Zero confirmed once more, not realizing that this was all a lie. "However, please make sure that Hinata and Naruto are safe on this mission."

Tsunade grew a smile when she heard this. " _It seems that Zero has developed some sort of bond with Hinata and Naruto._ " She thought. "We will ensure that they both gain maximum protection during our voyage."

"Thank you." Zero tilted his head down at the Hokage in proper etiquette when acknowledging a leader. "Is that all you needed to tell me?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Alright. I'll be heading out now." Zero began to turn around and walk towards the door.

"Stay safe." Tsunade said as she waved at Zero.

"Have a nice night!" Shizune waved goodbye as well.

* * *

" _Do you ever think that when something bad happens, it's karma? Sorta like you did something bad before, so something else will stab you in the back later on in life. It's bad karma, or maybe just bad luck, that can mess us up and put us with the people that can intervene with our past. That's not bad karma, if you haven't done anything wrong."_

 _"I was born into a family that didn't care about me. I was left out, like the bowl of ramen that nobody likes for some reason. But I can guarantee you, because nobody likes that bowl of ramen for no exact reason, someone will come along and eat it. If we were to put it in people terms, the person came along would guide that left out person. I can tell I'm saying person a lot, but maybe it's just one person that can make another person a better person."_

 _"We're all given someone who we would want to be friends with when we're born. Wait, actually that's not true, don't quote me on it."_

 _"I still don't even know why I'm thinking to myself..."_

 _"Do you want to know who my two special friends are? The people I can protect, who I can care about the most now?"_

Zero opened the door to Hinata's room, taking a peek inside before walking through the doorway. He had gone to the bathroom, as he needed to use it very badly. Hinata told him she was going to sleep before he left.

Hinata was asleep, barely making a sound. "You always were fast at falling asleep." Zero whispered as he started to creep through the room, making it to his corner of the room where he rested.

However, when he got to that point, he noticed something next to Ascension. Although it was a little dark in the room, Zero could still depict it from the darkness around him. "What's this?" He whispered, before finally finding out what it was.

It was a picture, a photo taken and placed inside of one of those photo holders. The picture was of Hinata and Naruto next to each other, standing together, smiling at him. Zero couldn't help but smile at the sight of the picture.

" _Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki."_

* * *

 **NEW ARC COMING SOON!**

 **SHIPPUDEN ZERO ARC #2: THE CHUNIN EXAMS**


	19. - SEASON TWO -

**This is a filler chapter to show the beginning of the 2nd arc in the chapter list.**

 **Arc Title: "THE CHUNIN EXAMS"**

 **Description: With Zero mastering four techniques, he is pitted together with an ANBU member and one of Konohamaru's teammates. The three enter the Chunin Exams, thinking that it should be a breeze, and soon find out that a few people from Zero's past have begun to cross paths with him...**

 **(Continue to the next chapter for the first chapter of this arc)**


	20. When Nightmares Become Realities

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 19 of "Shippuden Zero", otherwise known as the first chapter of the second arc!**

 **I'm going to decrease the author notes at the beginning and end of each chapter little by little until there aren't any in the future, just so I can focus on the story.**

 **REMEMBER: This arc takes place almost two years after the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, which if you didn't know, the war started a few days after after the first arc finished.  THIS ARC OCCURS RIGHT BEFORE THE PLOT OF "NARUTO: THE LAST". Which means the characters, such as Naruto (who probably won't be fighting during this arc) have different abilities now.**

 **I feel like I'm forgetting something, maybe it'll come up in the closing. For now, enjoy Chapter 19!**

* * *

 _"If you think you can be a ninja, than you're probably the stupidest person I've met!"_

 _"With those eyes of yours? Yuni, do you think he tempts you into killing him?"_

 _"Nope."_

 _"I doubt someone would even do that, Shenshi. He's worthless, I don't think anyone would want to share the honor of killing a useless person like him."_

 _"Maybe your right, Banshee."_

 _Banshee brought his fist up and punched the young boy they were making fun of. The young boy stumbled back into the tree, clearly the punch was strong and hurt him._

 _"Now listen, weakling." Banshee scolded. "If you think you can call yourself a shinobi, than I will come after you. I don't want weak wannabes like you in the Academy. You are a disgrace to the Land of Silence and your own family. Get out of my sight, before I impale you with my kunai."_

 _The young boy got up and ran away as quickly as he could, stumbling along the way. Those three were abusing him left and right every day of the year. He tried his best to stay away from them, but they always kept stumbling back, over and over, always regarding him as a waste of space, it hurt him so much, too much..._

* * *

Zero could feel himself falling through a hole. The same feeling as before, when Luras was transporting him to his dimension. "God, not this again..." Zero said to himself as he was being transported to the demon's dimension inside of him.

The Hidden Leaf shinobi landed on the ground on his bottom, not hurting as it did last time. Disregarding the fact that he wasn't feeling pain, Zero stood up and began to walk forward. "Alright, where are you?"

" **Did you expect to find me hiding in my own dimension?** " The demonic voice came from the darkness in front of him. The same streaks of blue chakra started to form, showing that Luras had appeared.

"No, but I rarely know about anything you do, since you appeared out of my ass last time."

" **I see you have developed humor. Is it because of that Tailed-Beast brat?** "

"You mean Naruto?" Zero asked. "Probably, I mean he is one of my best friends. What would you know about humor, aren't you stuck in this dimension?"

" **I can see what you see when you aren't in my dimension, human. How else would I know?** "

"Maybe I thought there was some sort of female Luras around here."

" **I do not need that excuse of an emotion that you humans call 'love** '".

"Yeah sure." Zero looked off towards the right of the dimension. Just another pitch black area, the same as everything around him. "Why did you summon me here anyways?"

" **Foolish human. Do you not remember? I told you that I would visit you the next time you had a nightmare.** "

"Oh, yeah..." Zero thought about the nightmare he had minutes before this current point in time. "About them..."

" **Yes, them.** " Luras looked away from Zero as well, before returning his demonic gaze back on the Hidden Leaf shinobi. " **I do not understand, why is it that you ejaculated a wet substance from your eyes in that nightmare? Surely that isn't a Genjutsu.** "

"You mean crying?" Zero asked. "That was the last time I would ever cry."

" **Ah, is that what humans call it? Hmm...** "

"Can't you do a Spiritual Summon and summon a human and find out what they are like?"

" **Are you referring to the jutsu that I taught you, in which you haven't even used yet?** "

"What are you talking about?" Zero looked away as if he was lying. "I just, haven't been able to use it in a long time."

" **Keep in mind human, I see what you see.** "

"Okay so, why are you visiting?" Zero tried to switch the subject.

" **Can I not visit the conscious of my host body? I would like to see your view on things of the current world.** "

"That's a pile of crap, Luras. What did you actually want?"

Luras clearly remembered that Zero had matured a little from the first time they met, so acting like he was enjoying being in a host body wasn't going to work. " **I just wanted to inform you, that the figures in your nightmare will cross your path soon.** "

"Hmm..." Zero went into deep thought about the three bullies. "How will they cross my path?"

" **You submitted your application to participate in those Exams, no?** "

"The Chunin Exams? Yes, I have." Zero replied. "Since Kakashi sensei is now the Hokage and has to focus on other things, I asked Kurenai sensei to request for my entry."

" **Very well, then you must request another one of your human sensei or human companions to train you even more.** "

"How come?"

" **Shenshi Asuruka, Yuni Sasamichi, and Banshee Inurabi will all be at the those exams.** "

* * *

"Lord Kakashi, are you still working?" Shizune opened the door to the Hokage's room.

Kakashi was busy typing on his laptop at the Hokage desk to even look at Shizune. "Yes, I am, and could you please drop the 'Lord'?" He replied.

"Sorry, Kakashi." Shizune apologized. "Aren't the Chunin Exams coming up soon?"

"Yes, they are. The Kazekage and I have agreed to have all of the exam rounds in the Hidden Leaf. The Hidden Cloud did not say anything about where it would be, they only submitted a few Genin teams into the exams."

"Alright. Well, I just wanted to tell you that you received a scroll in the mail. Here it is." Shizune pulled out a scroll from the inside of her robe and handed it to Kakashi. "There wasn't a label on the outside, so it may just be another request for a mission."

Kakashi opened the scroll while Shizune was speaking and read the title. "I don't think it is a request for a mission. It's from the Land of Silence."

"The Land of Silence?" Shizune questioned. "Isn't that the same area that Shikamaru went off to about a few months ago?"

"Yes, to exterminate the leader and his evil intentions, Gengo." Kakashi remembered as he continued to read the scroll. "Aren't they a shindig village as well?"

"They used to be a shinobi village before Gengo took over."

"Well, it seems that all the Genin and Chunin were able to migrate over to the Land of Steam when Gengo took over. Another Feudal Lord had came into power a week after that, and all the Genin and Chunin were able to come back into the Curtain Village." Kakashi explained. "From what it says in the scroll, at least."

"Is that all?"

"No, it seems that they would like to enter a few Genin teams in the Chunin Exams."

"Wait, Zero is from the Land of Silence, isn't he?"

"Yes he is, which means he'll have a reunion with his old friends."

"I'm not so sure about that." Shizune countered. "Before your Hokage inauguration, Zero had told us that his days in the Curtain Village's Academy didn't go so well. Apparently his time in the Academy was worse than Naruto's, as he was often bullied by all of his classmates."

"Well, than Zero should have no trouble using the jutsu I taught him before I became Hokage on those Curtain Village ninja."

"Should I go inform some of our current Jonin to train him a bit more?"

"I'm sure they would love to train on of their friends." Kakashi made a smile as he said this, even though Shizune couldn't see it with his mask on.

"Who should I send?"

"Well, let's see." Kakashi looked off into his book of the current shinobi in the village, which was next to his laptop, and flipped to the "JONIN" section. "Kurenai and Guy cannot train him at the moment, Kurenai having to take care of her child and Guy not being able to train because of his injuries, so let's take a look at Zero's friends." Kakashi turned a few pages over. "Zero has already trained with Naruto, mastering the Rasengan. Zero has already trained with Hinata, mastering an Eight Trigrams technique as well. For some reason, Zero was able to use a kekkei genkai from the Yamanaka clan, in which Ino helped him master. Rock Lee has trained him to better his practice of taijutsu. The only thing Zero has left to master is his weapon, Ascension."

"Well, who can train him using the scythe? That would be considered kenjutsu training, wouldn't it?"

"I believe so. That being, I'll send Tenten to help him with that."

"Alright, I'll go tell Tenten about this information." Shizune said as she turned around and began to walk out the door.

"While you're doing that, I'll send a message to the Curtain Village, telling them that I've accepted their request to be in the Chunin Exams."

* * *

 **A little bit of a short chapter, I'll have to improve on that. I'll also have to improve on when I release these**

 **Remember to review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **I'll be editing the chapters in the first arc so they correspond with the current time period, mainly that Zero was from the Land of Silence and not the Village Hidden in the Darkness.**

 **Chapter 20 will be out next week. This is AM, signing off.**


	21. Team 20

**Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 19! Or 20...I can't keep count anymore, but I'm pretty sure it's 19.**

 **So, I did a poll on Naruto Amino, and I got enough votes to add introductory songs to this. If you want to see what's happening during the theme lyrics, I'll explain it on Naruto Amino sometime in the future. Well, since this is just a story.**

 **Disclaimer for ALL CHAPTERS IN THIS ARC: I do not own any of the songs or their lyrics that are presented in these chapters. All rights of this song belong to Imagine Dragons and their songwriters.**

 **(This point in the story is a day after last chapter and Zero is now training)**

 **Enjoy Chapter 19!**

* * *

Ever since I could remember,  
Everything inside of me,  
Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)  
I was never one for pretenders,  
Everything I tried to be,  
Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)

If I told you what I was,  
Would you turn your back on me?  
And if I seem dangerous,  
Would you be scared?  
I get the feeling just because  
Everything I touch isn't dark enough  
That this problem lies in me

I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,  
I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me  
A monster, a monster,  
I've turned into a monster,  
A monster, a monster,  
And it keeps getting stronger

Can I clear my conscience  
If I'm different from the rest?  
Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)  
I never said that I want this,  
This burden came to me,  
And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)

If I told you what I was,  
Would you turn your back on me?  
And if I seem dangerous,  
Would you be scared?  
I get the feeling just because,  
Everything I touch isn't dark enough  
That this problem lies in me

I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,  
I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me  
A monster, a monster,  
I've turned into a monster,  
A monster, a monster,  
And it keeps getting stronger

I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,  
I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me  
A monster, a monster,  
I've turned into a monster,  
A monster, a monster,  
And it keeps getting stronger

* * *

"Keep going Zero!" Tenten yelled for a few yards away. "The training dummy has almost had it!"

The training dummy that Zero was practicing on was slowly breaking the more Zero struck its wooden katana. Zero could feel his power increasing the more he practiced kenjutsu on this dummy. "Got it!" He replied. Zero's scythe, Ascension, wasn't even gaining dust on its edge.

Tenten could feel the blush on her cheeks as she continued to watch Zero. It was as if she was a cheerleader cheering on her favorite sports player, and all-around crush. When she knew that she was going to help train Zero, Tenten couldn't help but blush right in front of Shizune.

With one more swing of Ascension, Zero blasted the dummy off its stand, sending it flying back into the rear end of the dojo. Sweat trickled down Zero's head, clearly entitling that he was tired. "Was that alright?"

Tenten walked up to Zero. "Yeah, that was pretty good!" She replied. "I think you're ready for the Chunin Exams."

"Alright good." Zero quickly said as he walked over the wooden ledge that created a border for the small area of sand where he trained, in which he sat down on the ledge. "I need a break."

Tenten walked over to him. "You sure get tired pretty fast."

"I'm not usually subjected to kenjutsu as much. The taijutsu training with Rock Lee nearly left me too exhausted to even move."

"Well, at least he isn't here today and we were able to borrow his dojo."

"Yeah..." Zero looked off to the right corner of the dojo. A small mouse scrambled through the wooden flooring, searching for food. The mouse tripped over something as it was searching for food, and Zero could see what it was. It was a large piece of paper that read, 'A-rank mission - Demon of the Water Drum - Completed'. The paper listed many more ranked missions, and Zero could tell that it was probably Rock Lee's mission list. That brought an question into Zero's mind that had not been answered for a while. "About that huge S-rank mission, how did it go?"

"The S-rank mission? Which one?" Tenten asked.

"Before Kakashi became Hokage, Lady Tsunade told me about some S-rank mission that all the Chunin and Jonin were going on. She asked me to protect the village while you guys were gone."

Tenten's eyes widened. " _Is he talking about the war? It's been almost two years, and Zero still hasn't heard about the war?_ "

"For some reason when I walking around the village at night, the moon turned into some huge red eyeball of some sort. It looked a little like Kakashi's Sharingan. And then, after a few minutes, everyone around me started to have these huge pods formed around them. It was a little weird, because everyone turned into a pod...except for me."

Tenten drastically stood up. "Wait, are you saying that the Infinite Tsukuyomi didn't affect you?"

"Infinite Tsukuyomi? Is that what that was?"

"Listen, Zero. I'm not sure how you don't know yet, but the thing Lady Tsunade told you, was a lie."

"What? What lie?"

"About the S-rank mission. Uh, I don't know how to put this, but we were actually going to war."

Zero could feel his brain twist. "A war?"

"Yeah..."

"War..." Zero said again.

Suddenly, the front door to the dojo flew open. Kurenai was standing in the doorway. "Oh good, Zero you're here." Kurenai said as she looked at the two ninja sitting down on the wood floor. "The Chunin Exams are starting soon, you should probably come with me."

"Alright," Zero responded as he got up. "Tenten, please tell me more about this when I get back."

Tenten blushed and smiled at Zero. "Of course I will." She replied as she got up as well. Zero walked past her and started towards Kurenai at the entrance.

"See you later, Tenten."

The girl waved at Zero as he left the dojo with Kurenai. Tenten knew something that probably would put Zero in a bad mood. Regardless, she waved at Zero as the shinobi looked back at her. Before Zero and Kurenai were out of sight, the thought ran it's way into Tenten's mind.

" _Please Zero, make sure you come back._ "

* * *

"Shouldn't you be taking care of Mirai, Kurenai sensei?" Zero asked as they were walking through the village.

"Yes, but because I am a substitution for your teacher, I need to attend your introduction to your team."

"Oh, alright," Zero confirmed. "Who is on my team?"

"Well, the first is a male shinobi from the ANBU. He is a specialist in Taijutsu, and his grades in the ANBU were fairly average, so you should make a nice team."

"Okay, that is interesting."

"And the next is a kunoichi, who happens to be a cousin of Sakura. She is also a specialist in taijutsu, and also knows Palm Sage jutsu. In that case, I reccomend you focus on Ninjutsu during the exams."

"Definitely. I've been practicing my Ninjutsu with Naruto lately when I'm not training with Tenten."

"Well, that's good. You should do fairly well."

"Are you going to watch?"

"All your friends and your mentors have agreed to watch you during the exams, except for the first exam."

"That sounds fair."

Kurenai stopped for a moment. "Well, it looks like you're meeting your teammates here." She pointed off at two figures walking towards them. When they came into close proximity, Zero could see their different visual characteristics.

As Kurenai said, one was a female and the other was a male. The male had orange hair, similar to the hair color that Moegi, one of Konohamaru's friends, had. His hair was rather cut short, and he had pale white skin, similar to Sai's. He was a little shorter than Zero, about the size of Naruto. His attire was long blue leggings and a blue shirt. The shinobi had his Leaf headband tied around his ankle. Zero could already tell that he was a taijutsu user like Lurenai said, due to the two knuckle braces he had on. "Hello, you're Zero, correct? I'm Kuu." The boy had a bored expression on his face.

The kunoichi was much shorter than the shinobi she was walking next to. She had pink hair with her headband tied around her forehead, unlike Sakura's. She had the same exact skin tone as Sakura, and of course was different in size. "Hi, I'm Awarena!" The girl smiled at Zero.

"Zero will be the third addition to your team." Kurenai explained. "Your Genin Team number is Team 20. Since you three are all trying to obtain Chunin this year, I hope you all communicate well."

"Yes ma'am!" Awarena exclaimed.

"Sure." Kuu muttered.

"Got it, Kurenai sensei." Zero replied.

"Alright, I am going to go discuss more things about the second exam with the its proctor. Have fun you three." Kurenai said as she began to walk away from the group. "Oh, and the first round of the exam is just as difficult as the last one, so remember to think very hard about the **RULES** when they are given to you." Kurenai put emphasis on the "RULES" when she said it. Shortly after that, she disappeared from the area.

"What do you think she meant about that?" Awarena asked.

"Probably something that doesn't matter." Zero replied.

"You fools. Kurenai sensei gave emphasis on the rules, so listen closely when the proctor gives them to us." Kuu scolded. "Where is the first part of the exam anyways?"

"Maybe over there?" Awarena pointed to something behind the group.

Exactly a hundred yards behind them was a large line of Genin were waiting to go into a building. Each Genin wore different clothing, signifying that they were from a different village because of each of their attire.

"Maybe so, let's go check it out." Zero commanded. The three of them began onward towards the line of Genin. "I wonder what the other Genin will be like."

"Hopefully they will put up a fight." Kuu predicted.

"Maybe they'll be very nice people!" Awarena sparkled.

At that exact moment, when they had gotten closer to the line, Zero noticed three particular people. Why did their presence react strange to him? It was only two male Genin and a female. " _Or maybe..._ "

Out of nowhere, Zero's Z-vision activated without Zero trying to use it. The same procedure went through, except when Zero looked around with the Z-vision, the entire sky was dark blue. " _Is Luras trying to summon me?_ " Zero thought trying to blink to de-activate it by blinking. With no luck, Zero looked to his right side. " _No, Awarena is still there, which means I'm not being transported._ "

Suddenly, Zero's vision focused on the three Genin again, who seemed to be outlined in red. " **THERE THEY ARE.** " The voice of Luras came from inside of Zero's body.

" _Yes, I will handle this Luras. Could you stop whatever you're doing?_ " Zero replied in his head. As if it was on command, his Z-vision flashed away in an instant.

" **As long as you can make them pay for what he's done.** "

" _I'm going to take the peaceful route this time. Maybe they've changed._ "

" **Fine...** " Luras' voice started to fade away. " **Find out the hard way...** "

* * *

 **Well, two weeks is not next week. Sorry for releasing this a week late, I've gotten a bit busy.**

 **If you liked this chapter then make sure to review/favorite/follow!**

 **Next chapter will be out next week. Stay tuned!**


	22. Reunion of Hatred

**Hello everybody, and welcome to the next chapter of Shippuden Zero! Last chapter was pretty good, huh?**

 **Remember to review/follow/favorite the story if you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Well, it looks like I have nothing really else to say. Let's start this chapter!**

* * *

 _Ever since I could remember,_  
 _Everything inside of me,_  
 _Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I was never one for pretenders,_  
 _Everything I tried to be,_  
 _Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _Can I clear my conscience_  
 _If I'm different from the rest?_  
 _Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I never said that I want this,_  
 _This burden came to me,_  
 _And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because,_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

* * *

"Maybe they can help us?" Awarena asked as she pointed to the the Genin group of Zero's past bullies. She started to walk up to them, and Zero and Kuu had no choice but to follow the younger girl.

" _Alright so if they changed, then that's good. And if they didn't, well it will look like I'll have to deal with this again._ " Zero began to think. " _I can actually fight now, though. Before, I didn't know any jutsu. And now I can do Water, Fire, and Wind style? They should already make me a Jonin!_ "

" _ **Do you think Banshee stayed the same as he was before, a disgrace of a shinobi that decided to make laughter out of other classmates? He will be stronger than he was when he said he was going to bring pain to you.**_ " Luras brought Zero into realization.

" _You're probably right..._ "

"Excuse me!" Awarena's voice squeaked behind Banshee, forcing the Genin to turn around.

Banshee was definitely still taller than Zero, but not by as much. The bully looked the same, and as did his other friends, Shenshi and Yuni. Zero was hoping for them to be shorter than him, but it looks like he only surpassed Yuni and Shenshi.

"Do you know if this is the line for the entrance to the Chunin Exams."

"Yeah it is." Banshee's voice was still as menacing as ever. "Back of the line starts here." He stated as he began to turn around. Unfortunately enough, while he was turning around his eye caught something irregular out of the corner of it. It was Zero, and what caught his attention was the three large scars on Zero's face. The golden eyes were enough to make him realize it actually was Zero. "Oh look, Shenshi and Yuni. It's the little scrub, Zero."

"What? Why is that excuse for a shinobi back? I thought he died when he left the village!" Yuni complained. While this was happening, Zero started to gain a little bit of anger when hearing these insults.

"Looks like you got really lucky that the Feudal Lords search crew didn't find you. Or should I say, that we're lucky they didn't find you." Shenshi proclaimed. The rage was growing stronger, and Zero could feel his eyes start to change color.

Despite noticing that his eyes were changing color, Banshee still landed the last insult at Zero. "Why are you in the Chunin Exams? Do you think you have a chance to become a Chunin? Hell, they should've put a bounty on you back at the Curtain Village. It's not like anyone wanted you there. And I don't think anyone ever will here, either."

" **SHUT UP, YOU PIECE OF CRAP.** " Zero roared as he drew Ascension out of his weapon holder. The other Genin and a few Leaf Chunin were starting to face their attention to the argument nearby the back of the line. " **I'll kill you here in an instant.** "

"Oh yeah? You think that little toothpick will kill me?" Banshee ignorantly asked.

"Zero!" Awarena's voice came from behind the argument. Her sweet attitude was gone, trying to remove Zero from this situation as quick as possible. "Stop this, now."

"Yes Zero, don't make such a scene in front of the Genin we'll be going up against." Kuu added on behind her.

The enraged Genin looked around, and what Kuu said was true. Everyone that was in the area was looking at their argument, even all the villagers that were passing by. Zero put Ascension into the weapon holder on his back. He then turned around, and began to walk back to Kuu and Awarena.

"Looks like you need your friends to make you realize that you're making a scene. You're as stupid as ever."

Zero clenched his fist when he heard that. "Just ignore them, Zero." He could hear Awarena whisper as Zero was right next to his two teammates. "Look, there's a couple of other lines to get into the Chunin Exams over there." Awarena pointed to a few other lines of Genin that looked exactly like the one they were at.

"Yeah that's right. Get out of here, nobody wants to see you anyways." Banshee laughed menacingly.

Zero had no choice but to follow his two teammates to the line on the opposite side of the entrance. Even after getting to that line, Banshee was still laughing at him. Finally, the other Genin clouded his view of Zero and the laughing stopped.

"Who was that guy?" Awarena questioned, her regular happy attitude returning.

"That's Banshee Inurabi." Kuu answered before Zero could. "He was a Jonin-level Genin, otherwise known as the "Multiple Illusionist Genin. Banshee resides in the Land of Silence's center point, the Curtain Village. The question is, what does he have to do with you?" Kuu crossed his arms as Awarena and himself both waited for Zero's answer.

Zero almost didn't answer him, but he finally did when he wanted to blow some steam off. "I used to live in the Land of Silence when I was a child. Banshee, Shenshi, and Yuni were all my classmates, but they did the opposite of welcome me when I first started my Academy days." Zero explained a past memory to the two.

 _"If you think you can be a shinobi, then you're as good as dead!" A young Banshee yelled at the new student at the Academy. The student had accidentally bumped into him and refused to apologize when Banshee yelled at him. "Your eyes are different, but you can't even do a Genjutsu with them! How do you expect to be taken seriously when you can't even do a single jutsu!" Banshee threw a rock at the new student._

 _"I heard that your father is the leader of the Curtain Village jonin army. He must feel utter hatred to have a failure of a son like you." Yuni inferred._

 _"Can you even use a weapon? Those weak arms of yours can barely hold a pencil."_

 _"Get out of my sight." Banshee finally declared, taking out a kunai from his pocket. The young boy ran away, towards the other side of the yard._

"They kept degrading me every day at the Academy. Every day was the same, they would beat me up in the morning, throw papers at me during class when the teacher wasn't looking, and beating me up again after class. I had to last three years of that, before I left the village."

"You left to live in another village?" Awarena asked.

"No, I travelled place to place, visiting different villages. I didn't have any food for a bit, but it was better than having my stomach punched so hard that I felt like I didn't have one."

"They seem like a rude group of people." Kuu examined. "Why would they continue to be rude to you if they knew about the power of your Z-vision?"

"You know about that already?" Zero questioned the research of Kuu.

"My parents are almost never home, and they have a lot of books about different vision techniques. I found a book about Z-vision, and how it is only used by one person; you."

"They have a book about me?" Zero's eyes blinked rapidly. "I've only been here a year or two..."

"The Z-vision hasn't been obtained by anyone in the present day or the past. You're probably the first one to have such a jutsu."

"Well, isn-"

Zero was interrupted by the sound of a voice. "Hey, you guys are up." A Chunin explained to them as the group looked over to the line of Genin, which was now gone. "Come on, we have to start of the first round of the exams."

"That's weird, did we not even see all the Genin go in?" Kuu asked.

"We weren't focused on them, because we were listening to Zero." Awarena smiled as they began to walk to the doorway.

The Chunin that was asking them to come to the front was sitting at a desk next to the entrance. "Alright, so what are your names?"

"Kuu Horama." Kuu answered first.

"My name is Awarena Haruno!" Awarena answered second.

"I'm Zero." Zero gave his name last.

"Very well." The Chunin began to write down their names on a list that had other Genin names on it. "And your instructor?"

"Kurenai Yuhi." Zero answered.

"Alright, you've been entered. Your classroom is classroom number eight, which is the door directly down that hallway." He pointed to a hallway on the right side of the large room.

"Would you happen to know the names of the instructors?" Kuu asked.

"In chronological order from the first exam to the third, the instructors are Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Rock Lee."

" _Isn't it weird seeing all my friends as instructors of the exams? Who am I talking to..._ "

"Thank you mister!" Awarena exclaimed as they began to walk to the hallway.

"Yeah thanks." Kuu added.

The team continued onto the hallway, which only had one door at the end of it. "Alright guys, although we've only known each other for a short amount of time, let's make sure we get through this. Teamwork is the key."

"Yep!" Awarena confirmed.

"Got it." Kuu said.

They arrived at the doorway and Zero put his hand on the door handle. "Well, here goes nothing." Zero said as he began to open the door, opening the three to the first round of the Chunin Exams.

* * *

 **Well, once again I'm off schedule. I'm very sorry about that, like I said before I'm not good at releasing things at the right dates.**

 **Next chapter will be out soon. This is AM, signing off.**


	23. Let The Exams Begin!

**Hello everybody, and welcome to the next chapter of Shippuden Zero!**

 **Remember to review/follow/favorite the chapter if you like it!**

 **I really don't have much to say, so enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _Ever since I could remember,_

 _Everything inside of me,_  
 _Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I was never one for pretenders,_  
 _Everything I tried to be,_  
 _Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _Can I clear my conscience_  
 _If I'm different from the rest?_  
 _Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I never said that I want this,_  
 _This burden came to me,_  
 _And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because,_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

* * *

The door opened wide, and what the trio were introduced into was a very large classroom. Countless numbers of Genin were sitting in desks everywhere in the room, and all eyes went to Zero when they entered the room. They didn't say anything, only staring at Zero, Awarena, and Kuu before returning back to their conversations with other Genin.

"Wow!" Awarena exclaimed. "So many more people in here, which means I get to make way more friends!" Her eyes sparkled.

"Remember, Awarena. We'll have to fight these people if we make it onto the next round." Zero proclaimed. "They might not be as happy as you are when we go up against them."

"Right!" Awarena focused her eyes back on looking around the room.

"Who was our proctor again, Kuu?"

Kuu sighed at Zero's remark. "I believe it was Shikamaru Nara."

"Shikamaru, ay? He's a smart one, so make sure you consider all possibilities during the exams." Zero began to look around the room again.

Something had caught Zero's eye when he was looking around the room. Despite at least thirty Genin in the room including themselves, there were a few other ninja around the room that looked to be in Chunin. Most of them were wearing small handkerchiefs that covered their nose and mouth, so it wasn't that easy to specify who they were from other ninja around the village. They wore a Chunin headband, however. "Who are those guys?" Zero motioned to the Chunin sitting in chairs around the room.

"I remember this." Kuu said. "Those Chunin are specialists in visual prowess and detection. They can see even the littlest of things move. They could be to make sure we don't cheat on the written exam."

One of the Chunin who was sitting around the room stood up. "Alright everyone, the exams will began in about a minute. Please go towards your assigned seat. Your assigned seat has your name at the center of the desk." He explained. "The proctor will be explaining the rules shortly." The Chunin sat back down in his seat.

"Looks like it's starting." Zero turned around to Awarena and Kuu. "Well, get to your seats guys. Remember, Kurenai said to pay attention to the rules." He said as they dispersed from each other to find their assigned seats.

It wasn't hard to find his seat. Zero was sitting nearby the front of the room in the middle. " _Well, hopefully we can pull through._ " Zero turned around when he sat down to find out where Awarena and Kuu were. " _Awarena's not that far away from me_." Zero thought as he found Awarena easily. The happy girl looked up at him and noticed that he was looking at her, so Awarena waved and smiled at him. " _I wonder how she's so cheerful even in this situation._ " Zero couldn't help bit smile. A few seconds later, he found Kuu, who was sitting nearby the bottom left side of the room. " _Alright, so Kuu is over there. He's a pretty smart person, I doubt he'll have any problem with this._ " Zero turned back around and faced towards the front of the room.

There was a TV on a large desk in front of all the smaller desks they were at. The TV flicked on, and a picture of Shikamaru appeared. "Hello, Genin. Welcome to the first round of the Chunin Exams. I am your proctor, Shikamaru Nara." Shikamaru greeted everyone. "Now, let's start. The rules of the first round are easy to understand and there are only a few of them. Right now, there should be someone handing out the tests." As if it was on queue, one of the Chunin's began to walk around and hand out a test to everyone. "This will be a written exam, as some of you may know. We are going to test your strategies and techniques on paper. On the top left of the paper is your name, along with your team's name. Now, you must all answer all the questions with your utmost knowledge of each question. Each test question has been specifically made for your group and your understanding of your teammates, as well as how to act in situations such as battling." Shikamaru took a moment so all the information would sink into everyone. "Now, onto the next part of the rules. There are at least ten detection specialists around your testing room. Keep in mind that these specialists will be keeping an eye out for cheaters, if there are any. If you are caught cheating, a specialist will write your name on his paper. The amount of questions you get right will be subtracted by the amount of times you were caught cheating. Now, here's the catch. You are only allowed to pass with eighty percent of answers correct. Any percentage lower than that will result in your entire team being removed from the Chunin Exams."

"What?" Someone questioned.

"Only eighty percent?" Another asked.

"Oh, and one more thing." Shikamaru remembered. "Using ninjutsu to gain an advantage in any way will result in your name being written down on one of the detection specialists papers. I wish you all the best of luck." Shikamaru's face vanished from the TV screen as it turned back to it's regular black color.

Mumbling erupted into the sea of Genin across the room. " _Eighty percent, huh? This is sure to be interesting._ " Zero thought as he began to look to the side of him for a moment. " _At least Banshee, Shenshi, and Yuni aren't in this classroom. They'd create a problem if they saw me._ "

"Alright, the tests have now been handed out." One of the Chunin nearby the TV at the front explained, pointing at the clock. "You have two hours to complete the test. When you are finished, hand them in next to the TV."

Zero looked down at his paper to examine the questions, starting with the first one. " _What is the average speed per second needed for a kunai to pierce through a summoning scroll?_ " Zero read out the question in his head. " _Damn, that's a hard one. What could it be..._ " Zero began to look around the room for answers, and at one point looking at the Genin next to him. The Genin was sweating a little on his head, meaning that he was having a problem on the first question.

" _Wait a minute._ " Zero remembered what Kurenai sensei told the three of them before she left. " _Focus on the rules of the test. Shikamaru explained the rules fairly thoroughly, and he had mentioned a few times about ch-_ "

Zero's brain shuddered for a moment. " _What the..._ " He thought in his head. " _What was that?_ " Zero looked around the room for a moment.

" _That was just Kuu._ " Awarena's voice filtered into Zero's head.

" _Awarena, how can you hear my thoughts?_ " Zero thought again.

" _We can both hear your thoughts because of my Mind Link jutsu._ " Kuu's voice explained. " _So, how are we going to do these questions on the test?_ "

" _The first one was really hard._ " Awarena's voice turned a little sad.

" _Well, how are we suppose to do this? Remember, Kurenai sensei said we needed to focus on the rules. Shikamaru explained the idea of cheating on the test very thoroughly, maybe we should start there?_ " Zero added in.

" _How are we supposed to cheat if no one else in the room knows any of the answer?_ " Kuu asked.

" _You're right..._ " Zero looked around the room again. " _Hey, wait a minute..._ "

Something had caught Zero's eye when he looked around the person. Not something, but someone. There was a Genin nearby his location, who was writing down answers on the test as if it was just a regular test.

" _What is it, Zero?_ " Awarena asked.

" _There's someone nearby me who isn't even having trouble with the test._ "

" _He probably just studied for the inevitable is all._ "

" _No wait, his headband..._ " Zero took a closer look at the headband that the Genin was wearing. " _Why does he have a Chunin headband..._ "

* * *

 **I'm very sorry about releasing this chapter late as well, and that it is relatively short.**

 **The next chapter will be released soon. Please review/favorite/follow the story if you like it so far!**

 **This is AM, signing off.**


	24. Memory Is Key

**Hello everybody, welcome to the next chapter of Shippuden Zero! I hope you all enjoyed the last one, and are ready for the next part of the Chunin Exams!**

 **Remember to review/follow/favorite this story if you like this chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Ever since I could remember,_

 _Everything inside of me,_

 _Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I was never one for pretenders,_  
 _Everything I tried to be,_  
 _Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _Can I clear my conscience_  
 _If I'm different from the rest?_  
 _Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I never said that I want this,_  
 _This burden came to me,_  
 _And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because,_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

* * *

" _What do you mean he's wearing a Chunin headband? Is it dark blue?_ " Kuu asked.

" _Yes!_ " Zero answered. " _Why would Shikamaru place Chunin in the first part of the exams?_ "

" _Umm, guys?_ " Awarena asked. " _I think I know why._ "

" _Yeah Awarena? You got any answers?_ " Zero questioned the younger girl.

" _Mhm. You know how Shikamaru was talking specifically about cheating on the exams during the rules? Well maybe he placed Chunin around the room with the correct answers on their paper so the others could cheat off of them._ " Awarena explained.

" _Wow, Awarena. That's actually very logical._ " Kuu analyzed, being impressed from the young girl's intellection.

" _So that means that this test isn't a test of who is the smartest, it's a test of who can cheat without getting caught!"_ Zero concluded.

" _Yes, it is. So the first part of finishing the test is finished. Now, since Zero is relatively close to a Chunin with the correct answers, you'll have to find a way to cheat off of him. Maybe your Z-vision could help?_ " Kuu asked.

" _I'm also pretty close to him. Maybe I can help Zero!_ " Awarena exclaimed.

" _Of course you can help, Awarena._ " Zero accepted. " _Alright Kuu, what's the plan?_ "

" _I really don't have any ideas for this situation._ " Kuu answered.

Zero stared towards the front of the room for a moment, and noticed the small box next to the TV that recently was projecting Shikamaru. The box was red, and was empty from what Zero saw. There was also another box, and on the top there was another test, except it was blank. Those must've been extra tests. " _Wait a minute..._ " Zero asked himself.

" _Do you have a plan? If so, please explain it to us._ " Kuu asked himself.

" _Yes, I do. Awarena, can you see what answers he putting down from your position?_ " Zero asked.

" _Hmmm...barely._ " Awarena answered. " _I can see that he's halfway done with the test, though._ "

" _Alright good, I should have-_ "

" _Actually wait, I can see some answers now. He's on the right side of the page._ " Awarena interrupted.

" _Okay good. Every time he answers a question, tell me what letter he puts down. The first question is written, but the rest of the test is multiple choice._ " Zero explained, closing his eyes for a moment. " _I'll activate my Z-vision for a moment._ " Zero kept his eyes closed and quickly activated the Z-vision by putting up its respected hand sign. After it was activated, Zero pinched his nose so he couldn't smell anything either, so the chakra would only be able to go to his tastebuds and to his ears. After this, Zero focused the projection of his hearing towards the pencil of the Chunin with the correct answers."

" _The last question's question answer that he put down was B._ " Awarena quickly told him.

The pencil made a sudden movement to the right when she told him the answer.

" _The next one was C._ "

The pencil made a twisting noise for a moment.

" _The next is D._ "

The pencil quickly swiped to the right.

" _The next was A._ "

The pencil flew across the the paper towards the left.

" _Okay, you can stop now._ " Zero released his Z-vision and stopped pinching his nose. " _Kuu, do you know any jutsu that can get rid of the Chunin's paper?_ "

" _Possibly, if this just isn't detected by the specialists._ " Kuu answered, putting up a hand sign. " _Fire Style: Flaming Molecule Jutsu!_ "

Zero could hear the sound of a crackling fire whisk itself across the room, so he turned around. When he looked back at the Chunin, he saw that the test with the correct answers was slowly being burnt.

"God damnit." The Chunin whispered to himself. "Stupid Genin accidentally messing with my test." The Chunin got up from his chair and began to walk to the front of the room.

" _Okay, Kuu. I need you to start the first question. Awarena and I will begin to copy down the multiple choice answers when the Chunin writes them again._

" _Wow! That was your plan?_ " Awarena asked, excitingly.

" _Very clever, Zero. Very well, I will begin the first question._ " Kuu grabbed his pencil and began to write on the test. " _I will keep the Mind Link up so you can give the answers to Awarena as well. I won't be listening to the conversation however, because this question is very difficult and I do need time to focus._ "

" _Alright Zero. The Chunin grabbed another_ test." Awarena saw. "He's _coming back, get ready!_ "

" _Got it._ " Zero confirmed, activating his Z-vision again and pinching his nose. " _Write down the answers as I say them, alright_?"

" _Okay!_ "

" _He just finished the first question, and he's getting to the multiple choice questions right now. Here we go, right down these answers in order, Awarena._ " Zero waited a moment. " _B, A, C, C, B, D, A, C, B, D, A, C, D, D, A, A, C, A, D, B, A, B, A, E, C, A, C, B, D, A, E, C, C, A, B, D, D, B, A, C, and B._ " Zero stopped talking for a moment. " _Is he finished?_ "

" _Yes, he's at the front of the test now. He's probably just waiting for the time limit to be up._ " Awarena answered, looking at the Chunin. " _Do you need me to give you the answers?_ "

" _I just got the answer to the first question._ " Kuu interrupted. " _Did you get all the answers?_ "

" _Yes, and Awarena is going to relay them to us now._ " Zero answered, grabbing his pencil and waiting for Awarena to say the answers.

" _Okay, here they are._ _B, A, C, C, B, D, A, C, B, D, A, C, D, D, A, A, C, A, D, B, A, B, A, E, C, A, C, B, D, A, E, C, C, A, B, D, D, B, A, C, and B. Did you get all of that?_ "

" _Got it._ " Zero and Kuu said in unison.

" _Also, the answer to the first question is 'ninety-eight miles per hour'_." Kuu told them.

" _Nice._ " Zero complimented as he wrote down the answer. Awarena did so too.

" _Is that it?_ " Awarena asked. _"Are we finished?_ "

" _Yeah, I guess so. Let's go hand in the papers at the front._ " Zero said.

The three of them all got up at the same time, and made their way to the front of the room. Some of the other Genin were still scrambling to get their answers down on the paper, and a few were sweating. They were all surprised to see full team finish all at the same time. Zero, Awarena, and Kuu all handed their papers into the red box. They then started towards the door, when one of the specialists by the door stopped them.

"Nice job figuring it out." The specialist said to them. "You may all wait by the front entrance of the building. The names of the Genin who passed will be projected by the bulletin board next to the main entrance."

"Alright." Zero answered. As they exited the room, Zero couldn't help but realize something. " _Wait, how did he know that we 'figured it out'?"_ He thought.

" _Yeah, I was thinking that too._ " Awarena's voice came into Zero's mind.

"You guys can stop using my jutsu now, the first round of the exam is over you know."

"Okay!" Awarena replied.

Zero looked up at the ceiling. "Well, all we do know is wait."

* * *

 **I started writing this a day after I released the previous chapter. Not sure why it came out four days afterwards...**

 **The next chapter will be released soon. This is AM, signing off.**


	25. Gate To Hell

**Hello everybody, and welcome to the next chapter of Shippuden Zero!**

 **My Bluetooth keyboard seems to have broken, so chapters may be delayed a bit.**

 **Other then that, enjoy the chapter and make sure to review/favorite/follow if you like it!**

* * *

 _Ever since I could remember,_

 _Everything inside of me,_

 _Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I was never one for pretenders,_  
 _Everything I tried to be,_  
 _Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _Can I clear my conscience_  
 _If I'm different from the rest?_  
 _Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I never said that I want this,_  
 _This burden came to me,_  
 _And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because,_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

* * *

Almost two hours had passed since Zero, Kuu, and Awarena had finished the exam. Only a few minutes ago had other Genin started to make their way back to the main lobbies. Some were waiting around along with the trio, however many of them were leaving the building altogether.

"Zero?" Awarena tugged on Zero's jacket. "Why are a lot of the people leaving the building?" She pointed at some of the Genin with disappointed facial expressions that were walking out of the building.

"Huh?" Zero looked over to where the younger girl was pointing at. "Oh, I'm pretty sure they either were disqualified or quit the exams. It's a little strange though, that test was fairly easy."

"Ah, but remember." Kuu, who was leaning on the wall next to them, interrupted. "I am probably the only person here that knows the Mind Linking technique. Other teams had to find a way to communicate with each other. And even then, most of them probably didn't even know about the Chunin with the correct answers around their rooms."

"You're probably right." Zero replied. " _I don't see Banshee anywhere near us. What a relief, maybe he couldn't finish the test. Means he wont bother me, though._ "

There were still a decent amount of Genin around the room after all the others were unfortunate in the tests had left. Over half of the Genin that entered the exams were now gone. The rest of them were striking up loud conversations, which flooded the lobby with noise.

A Chunin tried to get everyone's attention in the room by yelling out phrases such as "Everybody calm down for a moment!" He soon got everyone's attention and the room's noise ended. "The next round of the exams are in the large forest behind the building. The next exam proctor will be waiting for you by the entrance of the forest. You all have two minutes to be there or you will be automatically disqualified."

"Crap, we better get a move on then." Zero analyzed. "Let's hurry it up." The three of them began to walk out the door, although it was relatively hard to do so due to the large amount of other Genin trying to get to their same destination.

"There sure are a large amount of people trying to get out of this building." Kuu examined.

"I can barely see anything in front of me!" Awarena said, the young girl unable to find out where she was going because of the taller Genin around her.

"Just keep pushing through!" Zero reassured. "We'll get to the back of the building eventually!"

* * *

Soon enough, every Genin had arrived at the back of the building where they arrived at a gate that was blocking the pathway to a large forest. It wasn't formal, there wasn't a stage or anything nearby the entrance.

"The instructor isn't even here yet." A nearby Genin complained. "What was the point in rushing?"

"He is right. Ino Yamanaka isn't anywhere in sight." Kuu concluded.

"Hey! Zero!" A female voice came from behind the group. When the three of them turned around, Zero noticed that Ino was running their way. The blonde jonin finally arrived next to Zero. "How's it going?"

"Same old same old. Trying not to die in this next round." Zero jokingly replied.

Ino laughed at the joke of her friend. "Is this your team?" She pointed at Kuu and Awarena.

"Yeah. This is Kuu Horama." Zero pointed at Kuu. "And this is Sakura's cousin, Awarena." Zero then pointed at Awarena.

"Forehead's cousin, huh?" Ino examined. "Didn't get her traits, huh? You should be glad, Sakura's forehead is huge."

"Thank you!" Awarena smiled at Ino.

"Aww, how cute." Ino smiled back at her. "Well, it's nice to meet both of you. I should probably get going and talk about the next part of the exam. Stay safe, you three." Ino began to jog towards the gate of the forest.

"We will." Zero waved goodbye to his friend.

A few moments after Ino had said goodbye to them, her voice was heard from the entrance of the gate. "Excuse me, everyone!" Ino called out which quieted everyone down. "My name is Ino Yamanaka, and I am the proctor of the second part of the Chunin Exams. Congratulations on completing the first part of the exams, but I can guarantee you that this round will be WAY harder then the previous round. The Hokage has expected this round to lose ninety percent of the current Genin that entered. That means at least 10 of you will probably be moving onto the next round." Ino stopped for a moment.

"Behind me is the area for the second exam. There are a few Chunin passing around map outlines of the forest and one scroll." Ino lifted up two scrolls. "This blue scroll is the Heaven Scroll, and this red one is the Earth Scroll. These scrolls are surrounded in palm sage chakra, which will grant each team resistance from damage or any type of jutsu for ten minutes at the start of this round. However, do NOT open them, or there will be consequences. Each team will be required to gain one of each scroll by taking it from another team, whether it be stealing or defeating them in battle. The forest's climate is very difficult to get through, and some of you may not be able to complete this round."

"Please try to keep the deaths to a minimum. Although this is a survival round, we would appreciate it if other Genin could make it to the Chunin Exams next year if they don't make it this year." Ino started to back away from the crowd. "When the gate opens, you all have twenty-four hours to get to the beacon at the center of the forest, which is also labeled on the center of your map. I wish you all the best of luck!" Ino finally disappeared as a map and a Heaven scroll was given to Zero by a nearby Chunin.

"Alright, what's our plan guys?" Zero asked Kuu and Awarena.

"I think we should try to get near to the beacon as fast as possible, and we should run into another team on the way. We battle them, and gain their scroll if we defeat them and hope that it is an Earth scroll." Kuu explained.

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea." Zero replied. "Awarena, any other ideas on what we should do?"

"Nope! Kuu has a very nice plan!" Awarena smiled at the both of them.

"Alright, now we need to think of our battle strategy. We all will be on the offense during our battle. However, if one of us is injured, let's say Kuu is injured, Awarena needs to heal Kuu right away. I will defend both of you until Kuu is ready to fight again."

"That is another well-thought out plan, Zero. I hope this works." Kuu said.

"Also, Kuu." Zero added. "Our top priority is to protect Awarena. Not only because she is our healer, but also because I don't want her to get hurt."

"Very well."

"Alright, let's head to the gate." Zero concluded as they began to walk towards the front of the crowd. "Lets make sure we stay together." The gate slowly began to open the closer the three of them got to it. " _Here we go..._ "

* * *

 **I made this chapter on time.**

 **^ Just kidding**

 **Next chapter will hopefully be out soon, AM signing off.**


	26. A Drip Of Poison Swarms The Forest

**Hello guys, and welcome to the next chapter of Shippuden Zero! Although last chapter wasn't very exciting, I'm sure this one will!**

 **If you like this chapter, remember to review/favorite/follow the story!**

 **With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 _Ever since I could remember,_

 _Everything inside of me,_

 _Just wanted to fit in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I was never one for pretenders,_  
 _Everything I tried to be,_  
 _Just wouldn't settle in (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _Can I clear my conscience_  
 _If I'm different from the rest?_  
 _Do I have to run and hide? (oh, oh, oh, oh)_  
 _I never said that I want this,_  
 _This burden came to me,_  
 _And it's made its home inside (oh, oh, oh, oh)_

 _If I told you what I was,_  
 _Would you turn your back on me?_  
 _And if I seem dangerous,_  
 _Would you be scared?_  
 _I get the feeling just because,_  
 _Everything I touch isn't dark enough_  
 _That this problem lies in me_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

 _I'm only a man with a candle to guide me,_  
 _I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _I've turned into a monster,_  
 _A monster, a monster,_  
 _And it keeps getting stronger_

* * *

Zero could feel that every branch he stepped on was him getting closer and closer to a fight with Banshee.

" _I'll show all of them that they've been messing with the wrong person._ " Zero thought.

"Hey, Zero!" Awarena yelled from behind him. "It's night time, shouldn't we rest?"

"You're probably right." Zero answered, scouting the area in front of them. "There's a tiny cave over there, lets hide there for the night." The three of them stopped running and proceeded to ground level.

The cave was dark, a little too dark to see what was inside of it. "Anyone have a way to light things up?" Zero asked.

"I would expected you to have more knowledge of ninjutsu, Zero." Kuu said. "You are the oldest one here."

"I only have two ninjutsu techniques that I can use, and those two don't happen to be fire. I don't know much else, since the other part of my training is kenjutsu." Zero explained.

"I know one!" Awarena exclaimed from behind them. "Where should I do it at?"

"Here, light this plank." Zero threw a large piece of wood on the ground.

"Okay!" Awarena smiled. "Fire Style: Fire Ball jutsu!" Awarena produced a medium-sized fireball that shot towards the wooden plank, engulfing it in tiny flames. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's good. We'll keep this up for an hour, then we'll take turns keeping watch while the others sleep." Zero explained. "Kuu, you'll take first watch, then I will, and then Awarena."

"Got it." Kuu agreed without a problem.

The fire was still engulfed in flames after about ten minutes of them staring at the door in case anyone was nearby. "Excuse me, Zero?" Awarena tapped on Zero's shoulder to break the silence.

"Yeah? What's up?" Zero asked.

"Well, those other Genin from the waiting line, why were they so mean to you?"

"Oh you mean those three douch- I mean bullies? Oh, there just scum who messed with me when I lived back in the Land of Silence." Zero explained. "Back then, I was pretty weak to be fair. I had no knowledge of any type of jutsu, and was flimsy at throwing a kunai. They took the advantage and tried to 'whip me into shape' which was another way of saying that they wanted to beat up every day." Zero stopped for a moment. "That's one of the reasons of why I wanted to join the Chunin Exams, to show them that I'm not weak. As well as everyone else who piled onto those three in my Academy class."

"That's a very well-thought out goal to have, Zero." Kuu stated. "Awarena and I thought you were going to hold back during the exams, since you've had much more experience then us. But it seems that you want to try your hardest."

"Yeah, you're right." Zero commented.

"Okay then!" Awarena smiled at the two. "Then in that case, Kuu and I will try our hardest too!"

"Yes we will." Kuu replied, finally producing a smile on his face. "We shall not stop fighting until we fall."

"You guys are very nice." Zero complimented, smiling a bit. "If you guys can try your best, then that's all-"

"Zero!" Awarena yelled. "Look out!"

When Zero turned around, he saw a small shuriken flying towards his face. Before it collided, Zero quickly jumped out of the way back a few feet from the campfire. "What the hell?" He questioned. The shuriken landed on a tree on the opposite side of the campfire from wher it came from. "Hey! Whoever you are-"

Suddenly Zero discontinued his sentence, but he didn't know why. He could hear someone talking in his head, saying "watashitachi, no bijon..." the words were quiet and Zero could barely hear them.

" **I'm just practicing a jutsu, Zero.** " Luras explained in his head. " **However, before you forget, activate your 'Z-vision'** " Luras began to chuckle a bit when hearing the name Zero gave his visual jutsu.

Zero ignored the comedic demon's ridicule and quickly activated his Z-vision, this time he focused the chakra to his eyes. Zero still hadn't mastered this yet, and could only focus on one sense at a time. The woods around him began to light up, and he could suddenly see orange outlines of Awarena and Kuu which detailed their life force. However, when Zero looked off into the woods, he could see three more outlines behind a few of the trees.

"Hey! Come out from behind those trees!" Zero yelled over to them.

The three figures began to come out from their hiding spots, two of them in disgust for some reason. "Good job, Huyo. Now we have to be out here longer." The voice sounded like a female.

"Why do your shurikens have to be green? Why aren't they black?" Another one said.

"Well SORRY. Maybe if there were more trees that little brat wouldn't of seen it." The third said, in which Zero inferred that it was Huyo.

"Blaming it on Mother Nature now are we? Filthy scum." The female said.

"Giya, stop trying to start fights, Banshee always said that was one of your downsides." The second voice hissed.

"Yeah, whatever Tsumura. Let's just kill these worthless beings and get back so Banshee can pay us."

Zero deactivated his Z-vision as the three other ninja got closer. He walked over to Awarena and Kuu. "Guys, keep your eyes open, they have the advantage since you guys probably can't see them." Zero explained. " _What's that?_ " Zero could barely make out their headbands, but it seemed like there was a rectangle with a large "X" crossing off the square. Inside the square however, were curly lines. " _What the...why does that headband look familiar?_ "

"Why don't we make this a little interesting then?" Tsumura's voice hissed at Zero. Although it was a little hard to point out, Zero could partially see Tsumura putting up a hand sign. "Venomous Prison!"

Suddenly, a large purple cage appeared around the terrain. What was supposed to be bars of a normal cage were sloppy purple beams that dripped to the ground. They seemed to be coming from nowhere, as at the top of the cage the poison was forming itself.

Kuu pulled out a kunai from his pocket. "Take th-"

"Not so fast, kid." Giya interupted, quickly forming a hand sign before Kuu could throw the kunai. "Veil of Angels!"

A large, golden barrier appeared around Zero, Kuu, and Awarena. The light wasn't really that bright, but for some reason Zero's eyes were beginning to close a little and he put his hand up to cover the light. " _Damn, why is this so bright?_ " Zero asked himself.

"Zero! Are you okay?" Awarena rushed over to Zero who was using both of his hands to cover the light.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Stay focused, they could still have another jutsu up their sleeves."

"Well, let's take this barrier down fast." Kuu commanded. "I've seen a jutsu like this, it's used for charging chakra."

"Alright, let's go!" Zero pushed past the blinding light and began to rush towards the veil, Ascension in his right hand. Kuu And Awarena, this being their first ever engagement in the shinobi life, began running up with him as well and were relying on Zero to make the first move. However, Zero felt very weak for some reason. "What the hell?" Zero's legs began to move very slowly. "Do you guys feel this too?"

"Yes, I think it might be the Venomous Prison that Tsumura had done a few moments ago." Kuu answered. "This should be relatively easy to counter, right Awarena?"

"Yeah! I know how to get past this thing!" She exclaimed, putting her hands into a handsign.

"Looks like you guys have done some research," Huyo laughed evilly. "But I bet you weren't prepared for this. Bronze Medallion, Pierce!" Huyo held up a bronze coin, and the coin began to float away from him. Suddenly, the coin split and began to turn into large spikes. The spikes then soared towards Zero and his group.

The spikes seemed to be flying towards Zero relatively slow. Although there was a sharp pain in his stomach, Zero began to block the spikes with Ascension. Ascension's blade was relatively large, at least enough to block all of them. Zero was slow himself, as the pain was beginning to spread. Each spike made a hard impact on Ascension, but then faded into what looked like gray sand. Although there were a lot coming towards him, Zero still managed to block everything coming towards him. The volley of spikes stopped briefly after about ten blocks.

"That's strange, Zero wasn't that good at blocking things back at the Academy." Giya examined. "Can we just hurry up and end this? I don't want to be here for that long."

" _The Academy? The only Academy I've ever been to was..._ " Zero's eyes sharpened towards the three opponents across from him. "The Curtain Village Academy."

"Hmm?" Kuu quickly questioned Zero. "What about that Academy?"

"You're very good at observing information, Zero." Tsumura concluded, waving his hand forwards. This was a signal for the other two, as Tsumura, Giya, and Huyo began charging towards them, kunai and shuriken in hand. This gave Zero no time to focus on the information behind this group, as he had to focus back onto what they were going to do next with their attack plan.

"We are the Doku Three, and we attended the Curtain Village Academy with you, Zero."


End file.
